The New Saints’ attentions will once more turn to their European commitments as they travel to Lithuanian side FK Panevėžys in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League Play-Off tie on Thursday evening (KO 17:30 BST).
Victory in this tie would see the Saints qualify for the league (formerly group) stage of the competition, becoming the first Welsh side ever to do so.
Craig Harrison’s side kicked off their European campaign this summer with a 4-1 aggregate win over FK Decic in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, but subsequent defeats to Ferencváros (7-1 on aggregate) and Petrocub (1-0 on aggregate) have seen them slip into the UEFA Conference League.
The narrow nature of that loss to Petrocub will provide some hope, but there was certainly a frustration from Harrison and his players that they could not find a goal in the second leg at Park Hall last week.
A first half red card for Jordan Williams – for needlessly elbowing an opponent during a TNS attack – did not help matters and the winger will be suspended for this play-off tie.
However, that may encourage Harrison to turn to Sion Bradley, who netted a hat-trick as the Saints got their JD Cymru Premier title defence off to a flying start with a 4-1 away win over Flint Town United last Friday.
Bradley, the 2023/24 JD Cymru Premier Player of the Season, has been used sparingly in Europe so far – playing a total of just 36 minutes across four games in the UEFA Champions League before not even coming off the bench in either of the UEFA Europa League legs against Petrocub.
“We’ve spoken about it, maybe he should play more minutes than what he’s played,” Harrison said about Bradley following the league win over Flint.
“I’m sure he does think that, we’ve had a conversation about it. But what a way to reply, what a great attitude. He’s not sulked, he’s not stropped. He’s just come in tonight and showed his quality.”
Opponents FK Panevėžys were only founded nine years ago and won the Lithuanian top-flight title for the first time in 2023, but in a remarkable change of fortunes they currently find themselves bottom of the table two thirds of the way through the 2024 campaign.
Former Belgium international Stijn Vreven took over as manager at the end of May following the departure of Gino Lettieri, but has struggled to turn the tide – Panevėžys have won just three of their last 10 league games.
In Europe, they marked their UEFA Champions League debut with victory over HJK in the first qualifying round but heavy aggregate defeats to Jagiellonia Białystok in the second qualifying round and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round have since followed.
Three of Panevėžys’ squad have been capped by the Lithuanian national team, while Latvian defender Kaspars Dubra played against Cymru in UEFA EURO 2024 qualification.
TNS will have a fond memories of visiting Lithuania, having won 5-0 away at FK Kauno Žalgiris on their way to a 10-1 aggregate triumph in the UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round in 2021.
“It’s not often in football that you get a second bite of the cherry,” Harrison said after last week’s UEFA Europa League exit.
“The final whistle has gone in this competition, but we’re in another competition now so we’ve got a great opportunity to take all of the negatives and make sure we take all the negatives and learning curves from this tie and take it into the Conference League.”
