Tam Scobbie still isn’t sure how good Alaskert FC are.
But he’s certain that the Armenians haven’t seen the real St Johnstone.
And it’s the fact that the former Falkirk defender knows his side were way below their best in the first leg under the Yerevan sun that gives him confidence the 1-0 deficit can be over-turned at McDiarmid Park tomorrow night.
“It’s hard to say how good they were,” Scobbie admitted. “But they passed the ball well and moved it about, getting in good areas. They had most of the possession but we were always in the game and had a couple of good chances ourselves.
“We’ll find out on Thursday how good they are when they are under pressure and having to defend. We’ve got nothing to lose.
“I’m sure the manager will put out an attacking team and we’ll hopefully get a few goals.
“If the St Johnstone team that played last season, especially the last five games, shows up then I think we’ll have a good chance of beating this side.
“They’ll probably think, going by our performance last week, that we aren’t a good side but it’s up to us to show them that we are a good side and we have proved that in the last four years by getting into Europe and beating good teams like Luzern and Rosenborg.”
Frustration at their poor display in Yerevan has given way to determination to make amends.
Scobbie noted: “Obviously we were disappointed with the result and the performance over there but we are still in the tie.
“We have to keep it tight at the back and try to play some attacking football to give us an opportunity to get to the next round.
“Back at McDiarmid, on our day we can beat anyone. We’ll certainly put up a better show than we did over there.”
Scobbie doesn’t want the shortened summer break not to mention the hard work it took to secure a place in Europe to count for nothing.
“Definitely not,” he said. “There are still four weeks to go before the league starts. We’d rather be playing competitive games than pre-season friendlies and we want to go as far as possible. We have to focus on Thursday, get the result in the bag and take it from there.
“It would be massively disappointing to go out at the first hurdle. We spoke about that when we came back. We didn’t want to come back a couple of weeks early for nothing, especially when we’ve had a bit of success in the three seasons before.
“Thursday is going to be another big night and when the fans turn out we’ll get a massive lift and we can go and win the game.”
Armenia was a long trip, but if Saints win tomorrow an even longer one to Kazhakstan is likely next week.
That certainly isn’t putting Scobbie off progressing to round two.
“I don’t mind travelling,” he pointed out.
“It’s good to see other parts of the world that you otherwise wouldn’t see.
“If we go to Kazakhstan of Belgrade then it’s another wee adventure – something guys want to do and have on their CV.
“I think Almaty is almost in China. The chairman would be pulling his hair out trying to sort another flight out!”