MILLAR WARY OF FALLING AT FIRST HURDLE

ST JOHNSTONE have played enough European football to know the pitfalls of the qualifying rounds.

Under Tommy Wright, the Perth side have regularly participated in the Europa League preliminaries but for every highlight, such as the memorable wins over Rosenborg BK and FC Luzern, there has been a Minsk or a Trnava to send the Perth club crashing out before the group stage.

Midfielder Chris Millar is in his tenth year at McDiarmid Park and has experienced all those thrills and spills. Now, as he prepares for this year’s first hurdle against FK Trakai of Lithuania, he hopes the team is streetwise enough to manage the qualification process. ‘The disappointing thing is that we’ve knocked out teams who were better than the teams who ended up putting us out,’ reflected Millar (left). ‘It’s hard when you’re starting out in the first qualifying round to make the groups, we know the stats are against us, but you at least have it as a marker.

‘If we got there, it would be an unbelievable achievement.’

Saints are at home in Thursday’s first leg and Millar admits it’s how they handle the second leg in Vilnius that will hold the key to the tie.

‘In Scotland, the tempo is so quick and we tend to try to take that mindset away with us,’ he conceded. ‘But, sometimes, you have to play the conditions. When you have time, you have to slow things down.’

Saints — who continued their build-up with a 2-0 friendly win over Welsh side Connahs Quay yesterday thanks to goals from Blair Alston and Graham Cummins — will be without skipper Steven Anderson for both legs after a scan on his injured knee revealed severe bruising which will rule him out for at least a month.

They also miss left-back Brian Easton, who has a groin injury.