Wright will find out about ‘unknown’ Swiss

TOMMY WRIGHT hopes his St Johnstone team can harness the experience of their European exploits over the past two seasons to scale fresh heights against Swiss side FC Luzern. The Ulsterman admits he knows very little about his team’s second qualifyinground opponents, who finished more than 20 points behind champions Basel last season. But the Saints boss will show Luzern the utmost respect by flying out to see them for himself in their Swissporarena before the first leg on July 17. ‘My first reaction is that it’s a tough tie,’ said Wright, whose team knocked out Rosenborg last season, before losing on penalties to FC Minsk. ‘I don’t know much about Luzern at this stage but I will be getting footage of their games from last season and I’d hope to get across to see them at least once, if not twice, before the first leg. ‘By the time the game comes around, we’ll know plenty about them. ‘It won’t be an easy tie. Swiss football is very good and their national team qualified for the World Cup so that shows the quality of player they have. ‘Their season starts on July 20 and we aren’t back in until Thursday, so they will be a few weeks ahead of us in terms of preparation, but that’s not something we bother about. ‘We know that if we have a good game-plan and stick to it, then we have a chance against anyone. ‘We proved it last season against Rosenborg and Minsk away. ‘Last year, we surprised a few people with our results in Europe, but this season we won’t have that shock factor. However, I’m sure they will look at our away wins and won’t take us lightly.’ Wright is tracking free agents Farid El Alagui and David Goodwillie. Meanwhile, Motherwell’s fifth Europa League outing in the six years the competition has been in existence will see them face either Icelandic outfit Stjarnan FC or Welsh side Bangor City in the second round of qualifiers. Alan Burrows, the Fir Park club’s new general manager, said: ‘We played Llanelli in Wales in 2009 and Breidablik in Iceland in 2010, so this is the first time in Motherwell’s European history that we will be returning to a country we have played in before. ‘We are really looking forward to the ties and we also know whichever team we face will give us a hard game.’