Nomads in no mood to be whipping boys in Rhyl

OF all Andy Morrison’s studies into Europa League opposition, boastful headlines from a former Kilmarnock star and an online discovery of the attitude of some Rugby Park fans has unearthed plenty of useful information.

The Connah’s Quay Nomads manager stumbled across discussion among Killie fans about travel plans for Serbia. It’s Partizan Belgrade who lie in wait for the winner of the all-British tie, the first leg of which sees Connah’s Quay host the Premiership’s third-placed side at Rhyl’s Belle Vue ground on Thursday.

That presumptuous patter is not all he intends passing on to his part-time players before the home leg. For old foe Mark Roberts, who clashed with Morrison and his crew when the Welsh knocked his Queen’s Park team out of the Irn-Bru Cup quarter-finals last season, has expressed a desire for his former club to thrash Connah’s Quay by double figures.

Morrison isn’t planning for a heavy defeat. He’s plotting another shock. His men stunned Norwegians Stabaek three years ago over two legs and shocked HJK Helsinki at home in 2017 before bowing out in Finland. Being armed with extra tools of motivation will serve his scheming well for the visit of Kilmarnock.

‘Listening to some people say that: “It could be six and we are hoping for 10” — a lot have completely written us off,’ noted Morrison. ‘But you do that at your peril because so many have done that before. We’ve beaten Falkirk, Helsinki and Stabaek when Billy McKinlay was in charge.

‘Our experiences show we can perform. But I’ve been reading that fans have booked their trips to Belgrade so no one gives us any sort of chance — and that’s right up our street. You use anything you can to motivate you — and the players will be made aware of that.

‘I know my group and they are always highly motivated anyway. A lot were released by clubs and have that chip-on-the-shoulder mentality. In my four years at the club, that’s never let us down.

‘We know the gulf is huge between our semi-professional league and the Scottish Premiership. So this is a huge ask.

‘But there’s no fear, we never play with fear. We could be playing Celtic next week and we wouldn’t be afraid.’

Morrison, whose men drew 0-0 with Aberdeen last week, travelled to Marbella to check on Killie as they lost 3-0 to Dinamo Bucharest in their second friendly under new manager Angelo Alessio.

‘There’s been change at Kilmarnock with the manager but they still have international players there and there doesn’t seem to be a massive cultural change in the way they will play,’ he said.

‘We played Aberdeen last week and, although we got a draw, you could see the individual qualities — and Kilmarnock finished above them. If it’s not broke then I don’t think they will try to fix too much.’