St Mirren will ‘enjoy not fear’ sold-out Euro tie in Paisley
Stephen Robinson insisted St Mirren would embrace rather than fear their historic Europa Conference League tie against Valur tonight.
Paisley will witness european football for the first time in 37 years as the buddies look to overcome their Icelandic opponents in the second leg of their qualifying-round encounter, following a goalless draw in Reykjavik last week.
St Mirren’s ground will be packed to its capacity of around 8,000 for the club’s first foray into Europe since they competed in the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1987 and the Saints boss acknowledged the significance of the occasion, which provides the chance to meet Dutch side Go Ahead Eagles or Norwegianout fits kb ran ninth et hi rd qualifying round.
“There is no point in downplaying it, it has been nearly 40 years in the making,” said Robinson, who confirmed new signing Shaun Rooney was back from a European suspension held over from his time at St Johnstone, while Mikael Mandron will have a late fitness test.
“We want to go and embrace it, we want togo and enjoy it, not fear it.
“The players have earned the right for this, they have earned the right to be in the tie, that was the important thing from the first leg and we are going to go and play our game.
“We are going to get the crowd behind us and take the game to Valur.
“We have been very clear – we didn’t want it to be one round.
“Both teams know who they get in the next round so it is certainly a carrot for both teams.
“It is important for Scottish football that everyone represents Scottish football well and shows what a good standard it is and we aim to do that tomorrow night.”
Robinson believes the sellout crowd in Paisley will lift the home side, especially if the away support in Reykjavik “is anything to go by” but believes that patience will be required.
The Northern Irishman said: “There was allegedly 200 fans there and they made a lot of noise.
“There is going to be 6,000 St Mirren fans on Thursday and that is fantastic and I believe that is–a si have repeatedly said – credit to staff, coaching staff and players here that they have turned out in their numbers and they are obviously enjoying what they see. the fans were terrific out in Iceland. There wasn’t many of them but they made an incredible amount of noise.
“Hopefully they will be patient, I know there will be support for the team.
“They know everybody will be giving absolutely everything to progress into the next round.
“The support is just as important in terms of patience, you can’t win the game in the first five minutes, it is going to be over 90, 96 minutes, maybe longer.
“It is important that everyone stays together and understands that we are playing a very good side.”
Meanwhile, Valur boss Arnar Gretarsson has revealed Gylfi Sigurdsson will miss tonight’s tie.
The 34-year-old former Everton, Swansea and Tottenham midfielder, Iceland’s record goal-scorer, is struggling with a back injury.