The Blues travelled to Denmark only to suffer their heaviest European defeat in seven seasons at the hands of a side only in the competition via a Fair Play berth.

Despite the eventual outcome Linfield started the game brightly and could well have taken the lead midway through the first half when Michael Carvill lost marker Issah Ahmed to test 'keeper Kevin Ellegaard with a low drive while moments later Jim Ervin headed into the side-netting.

However, Randers snatched the lead after 36 minutes when former Danish international Soren Berg side-stepped the Linfield defence to send the ball past the admittedly helpless Alan Blayney.

And they doubled their advantage just three minutes into the second half when the ball was cleared upfield towards Senegalese international Tidiane Sane who was somewhat fortunate to beat Blayney at the second attempt after an initial save bounced back off the midfielder.

Berg had a hand in Randers' third goal on 79 minutes when he outpaced Aidan O'Kane down the left flank to set up skipper Marc Nygaard for a tap-in before, barely a minute later, Kasper Lorentzen beat Blayney one-on-one to put the tie beyond doubt.

The sides meet in the return at Mourneview Park on July 9th, kick-off 7:45pm.