Luncarty land Europa League scorer Siggi
Airport trainee signs on at Juniors after Euro hat-trick back in Iceland
Sigurdur is glad to have some competitive football while over studying aircraft engineering He has scored a hattrick in the Europa League qualifiers and is dreaming of a return to the prestigious competition in the near future.
But for the next three weeks Sigurdur Marinó Kristjánsson is determined to help Luncarty Junior Football Club reach their full potential.
The Icelandic footballer, predominantly an attacking midfielder, has penned a onemonth loan deal with the Bleachers which coincides with his aircraft engineering studies at Perth Airport.
He arrived as a bit of an unknown quantity but his footballing journey to date has certainly raised a few eyebrows at Brownlands Park and beyond. The 27-year-old has fond memories of bagging a special hat-trick in a Europa League first round qualifier for his hometown team of Þór Akureyri, who play in Iceland’s second tier and are more commonly known as Thor. Irish side Bohemians were on the receiving end of a 5-1 aggregate defeat in 2012 and that set Sigurdur and his team-mates up with a second-round tie against Mladá Boleslav from the Czech Republic. That was where the special journey came to an end. “It was a great experience to go to the Europa League,” Sigurdur told the Perthshire Advertiser.
“We got into the cup final and if you won that you would qualify for the Europa League. We lost the final but the team who beat us won the league and were already in the Champions League.
“We played against Bohemians from Ireland and played away in the first game, which we drew 0-0. They were the better side for pretty much the whole game.
“Back home, we won 5-1 but Bohemians started with the first goal and that meant we needed to score two goals. But 10 minutes later, I tied it up.
“The second goal was from a set-piece and that was how it stood at half-time. After half-time, I scored another two and there was an own goal.
“Danny Murray, one of the coaches at Luncarty, mentioned to the lads that I played Europa League at the first training session. They all had a laugh about it.”
On Saturday, Sigurdur made his Luncarty debut in a 2-0 victory against Arbroath Vics, played in treacherous conditions at Ogilvy Park. It was an eyeopener but an experience he enjoyed.
“When I signed back for Thor I told my coach, Gregg Ryder, that I was coming to Scotland for one month,” he explained. “We talked about it and suggested looking for some teams to see if I could go out on loan.
“A team called St Johns was suggested to begin with but we found Luncarty and spoke with them. That was basically it.
“I had two training sessions last week and then the game on Saturday. We train on an astroturf in Perth which is just top-quality astro. It’s nice to be outside because usually at this time of year back home we are inside. We have indoor halls with full-size pitches.
“We had the game on Saturday. It was a bit different, but I think this was the same for everyone because the pitch was in really bad shape. It made it harder for both teams.
“I won the penalty in the game and my performance was all right. I could have done better and lost possession a couple of times. I missed a good chance to begin with so that could have gone better. But overall it was all right for me.
“The idea was to get some football if there were any teams in Scotland that wouldn’t mind taking a guy like me