Saints’ sin was giving Trakai time on the ball

Aavoid S St Johnstone aim to a premature Europa League exit, Tommy Wright’s side can take inspiration from their recent exploits on the continent.

The Northern Irishman’s first match in charge of the Saints back in 2013 saw Norwegian league leaders and Champions League regulars Rosenborg eliminated over two legs.

Another glory night followed 12 months later as Wright’s men punched above their weight once more in knocking out strong Swiss side Luzern on penalty kicks.

However, if St Johnstone do come back from their 2-1 home loss to FK Trakai this week to rescue the tie, Chris Millar would not rate it an achievement anywhere near those two lauded European evenings.

Frankly, the midfielder believes Saints made the little-known Lithuanians look far better than they actually are in last Thursday night’s disappointing first-leg loss.

But he hopes that Wright’s men can turn it round in Vilnius by getting in Trakai’s faces.

Then his team-mates must take the kind of chances they passed up in the home leg if they are to march on to a likely second round date with Swedish side Norrkoping.

‘I don’t think it would be up there with our other wins if we do it on Thursday night,’ said Millar. ‘I think beating teams like Rosenborg is a better achievement.

‘I don’t mean any disrespect to Trakai because they beat us on our own patch the other night. They were technically good but we sat off them too much.

‘When we got in their faces, they had mistakes in them. We all saw that on Thursday night. It doesn’t matter if you play for Real Madrid or FK Trakai. If you give players time on the ball at this level they look good.

‘And I thought that on Thursday night at our place we made them look better than they were. Yes, they have some decent players but we cut them open a few times and we created chances to at least get a draw out of it.

‘We missed two one-on-ones with their goalkeeper as well. I’m not blaming anyone for that but if we had scored it would have been a different game.

‘So we just need to make sure we get in their faces over there and be as aggressive as possible. We need to make it as difficult a game as we can for them on Thursday night.’ This may be St Johnstone’s fifth European adventure in six seasons but nobody at McDiarmid Park is taking being in the competition for granted. And having seen off bigger clubs like Hearts to grace the Europa League, Millar and his team-mates are desperate to avoid the crushing disappointment of a 180-minute stay in the tournament. ‘We worked so hard to get here, we don’t want it to be over so quickly,’ said Millar. ‘I didn’t want to come back after 19 days off in the summer just to go out at the first stage. That would be a big disappointment. ‘Of course it is going to be difficult but I would be lying if I said I didn’t think we could go over to Lithuania and do it. ‘We can’t go gung-ho over there but we know we can create chances against them. We just need to make sure we take them this time.’ St Johnstone can also take heart from the fact their results away from McDiarmid Park are better than their home form. Millar also feels his side will be sharper for the return leg, having got another 90 minutes under their belts in a 3-0 loss to Aberdeen in a friendly on Saturday at McDiarmid Park. Millar said: ‘Trakai are in the middle of their season, while we’ve just come back so there will be sharpness issues. But we’ve had games and we should be firing. ‘I think another week’s training under our belts and playing against Aberdeen will help us. ‘Also, we know what Trakai are about now. Playing against them is different to watching videos of them. ‘It does seem that we play better away from home. But I take each game on its merits, home or away. ‘And what we know now for sure is that we need to win by two goals. That’s all that matters. ‘It doesn’t matter how we do it, as long as we get through it. But we certainly have enough quality to get a result in Lithuania.’