Saints kick off Europa League in Perth
Tommy Wright St Johnstone fans will need to be looking out their passports and sunscreen as they rack up the miles when the club marches into Europe over the summer. The Perth side will be off to Lithuania early next month after the club was drawn against FK Trakai in the first round of the Europa League qualifiers yesterday.
The Fair City side will welcome the Lithuanians to McDiarmid Park on June 29 before making the near three hour flight for the second leg on July 6.
Trakai, who play their football at the 5000 capacity LFF Stadium in the capital Vilnius, are midway through their season and sit third in the country’s top division.
In last year’s Europa League, they exited the competition at the first hurdle, losing 5-3 on aggregate Nõmme Kalju FC of Estonia.
Perth players will be glad to hear
that temperatures will sit around the 20 degrees mark in Lithuania - a refreshing change from the club’s last European outing in Armenia.
Fares to get to the country range from around £500 to £2000 for flights between Edinburgh and Vilnius, before factoring in accommodation. Beer is around Euro 1.50 a pint.
Saints manager Tommy Wright said of the draw: “They are an unknown quantity at the moment but we will take the chance to watch them and that will be important.
“It will be difficult. I would imagine they will be strong and athletic.”
If the men from McDiarmid Park successfully negotiate that hurdle, a trip to Kosovo or Sweden is on the cards to face the winner of the Norrkoping v FC Prishtina tie.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office currently has an advisory for those travelling to Kosovo. Recent tensions in the north of the country has resulted in the FCO warning against all but essential travel in specific municipalities, away from Pristina.
But yesterday the advisory noted: “The frequency of protests in central Pristina has subsided of late but more are possible in the coming weeks.
“Protests have the potential to turn violent, you should take care if you see large crowds gathering during heightened political tensions in the city.
“There have been violent clashes in the north of Kosovo and incidents involving grenades and vehicle explosions in northern Mitrovica.”
But it also adds that “terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Kosovo”, although says “most visits to Kosovo are trouble-free”.
A similar warning against terrorism is also made for Sweden.
• See today’s PA Sport section for more reaction from the draw.