Tommy Wright, the St Johnstone manager, insisted there was no reason why the Perth club's Europa League journey could not continue into the group stage after last night's stunning aggregate victory over Rosenborg.
Wright's team now face FC Minsk in Belarus next Thursday and must come through the third qualifying round and
a play-off round before reaching the group stage. But after drawing 1-1 with the Norwegian league leaders last night, to go through 2-1 on aggregate, Wright claimed his team was good enough to deliver again for the crowd of 7850 which turned out at McDiarmid Park.
"We want the journey to continue,"
he said. "I told the players they would look back on this night with a lot of
pride and satisfaction long after they've finished playing. But we dared to believe that we could beat Rosenborg and now we're saying let's see how far we can go.
You want to get into the Europa League group. And on the standard they've set over these two games that wouldn't be unreachable.
"We urged the supporters to come out. We don't get the biggest crowds
in Scotland, everyone knows that, but we got 8000 tonight and the noise they made it might as well have been 30,000. I'm so glad we delivered because I think we've made a lot of people happy.
"It was magnificent. It couldn't have gone any better for us. Tomorrow morning we will probably realise the magnitude of the result it was for us
to turn over a team of that European pedigree and quality, who are top of the league, and with the budget they have."
The visa procedure to visit Belarus takes five days to process and will prevent Wright or his backroom staff from watching FC Minsk in person before the first leg. Rosenborg had scored after only four minutes but
Stevie May's 21st-minute equaliser was crucial. May learned he was starting the game only at 2pm when Chris Millar failed a fitness test.
Per Hansen, the Rosenborg manager, felt that his side had been the more impressive team over the two legs but did admit that their Scottish opponents could progress through the competition. "St Johnstone can reach the group stage. I thought we were the better team in Trondheim and again tonight, but we didn't take our chances."
PAT FENLON, the Hibernian manager, offered his apologies to the club's supporters following his side's humiliating 7-0 loss to Malmo in the second qualifying round of the Europa League. It was the worst European result in the club's history, and the heaviest ever aggregate defeat by a Scottish club, usurping Rangers' 12-4 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960.
"I'm embarrassed as much as anything else," he said. "It's difficult to say too much to be honest. We did alright at the start of the game, conceded a goal and then lost our way. It's very, very disappointing. "I've got to look at myself and not just blame the players. It feels like [the worst result in my career] at the moment. I've had some bad days and that was a bad day. You have to learn from it, players and managers. At this stage, though, it's difficult to be too positive about anything. "I apologise to the supporters. It's difficult for me to sit here and stand [up for] that performance. I won't do that, I won't make excuses. It wasn't good enough. That's the hardest part for me. I know how they're feeling and that's very difficult. "We did alright for 20 minutes and then we lose our way after conceding a goal. That happened as well in the first leg so it's something we have to look at. The season starts next week and it's a massive challenge to get it right."
A bad night for Hibs was made worse by the news that captain James McPake had suffered a back injury and will likely now miss the start of the season. "We had a makeshift back four before that and James going off didn't help," added Fenlon. "It looks like we'll lose him for a while now. He's hurt his back, he just felt it stiffen up and then he said he couldn't get around so we had to take him off."
Fenlon was unable to confirm that James Collins had signed from Swindon Town, despite the player announcing it on his Twitter page, but was hopeful of "getting it done".
Rikard Norling, the Malmo manager, also seemed somewhat embarrassed by the outcome. "We had a lucky day," he said. "When we got close to the goal it seemed like the ball wanted to go in for us. After the game to get a round of applause from the Hibernian fans was a very nice feeling."
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