Saints fans book up for another Euro trip All routes lead to Lithuania
St Johnstone supporters have been busy booking flights to Lithuania for the club’s Europa League first qualifying round match with FK Trakai.
Perth fans will descend on capital city Vilnius in large numbers for the second leg fixture on Thursday, July 6.
Fair City resident Blair Kaylor is one of hundreds who will make the trip, having missed only one competitive Saints fixture since 2009.
Visa red tape prevented the dedicated 21-year-old from jetting off to Belarus for the 2013 Europa League game against FC Minsk.
But there was no chance he was missing this one.
Blair said: “There’s five in our travel party – my dad, wee brother, myself and two pals – flying out on the Tuesday from Aberdeen to Vilnius with a pit stop in Riga in between before returning on the Saturday.
“It will be my first time in Lithuania but being a well-travelled member of the Tartan Army it’ll be nothing new to me.
“We don’t know what to expect from the opposition but under-estimating them is not an option - you just need to see our last European tie versus Alashkert.
“The artificial surface in Lithuania rules Steven MacLean out of the second leg which will make it more difficult for us so hopefully we can get a solid result in the first leg in front of a decent home crowd to take over there to give us the advantage.”
Blair told the PA following the club in Europe creates memories to last a lifetime.
He added: “These European ties are so special to us supporters. Each one is fantastic in their own unique way and every supporter has their own story to tell from trips abroad.
“For me personally, defeating Rosenborg in Norway was unbelievable. The draw in Switzerland against Luzern was superb and the city itself was beautiful.
“The away leg in Slovakia against Trnava was my birthday, so all trips have been special in their own way.
“Every year we keeping saying this one will be the last and yet here we are for the fifth year out of the last six, incredible for our wee club.”
The first leg clash with FK Trakai takes place at McDiarmid Park on Thursday, kicking-off at 7.45pm.
See today’s PA Sport section for more details.
The European ties are a favourite for fans. Inset, a memorable night as Blair follows Saints in Norway