Proud and delighted St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright hailed his players after they recorded yet another wonderful result in Europe.
The Scottish Cup holders drew 1-1 against FC Luzern in Switzerland to add to their already impressive haul of away results the wins against Rosenborg and FC Minsk last season.
Steven Maclean opened the scoring for Saints on 48 minutes, only for Marco Schneuwly to level for Luzern after 67 minutes of the Europa League second qualifying round first leg in the Swissporarena.
The Perth men are, remarkably, still unbeaten on their continental travels under Wright. Let’s also not forget that this was all achieved without injured star man Stevie May and key defender Steven Anderson.
Wright even insinuated that this achievement was greater than the win in Norway.
“I am delighted. We knew it would be tough and I think it was even tougher than Rosenborg last year,” said Wright.Click here for a full photo gallery“You have to consider the players who were missing and the heat etc. The game is all about players and I thought they were magnificent.
“They have proved once again that they can go away to play against a side, who were actually better than I thought they would be, and get a tremendous result.
“We are delighted to be taking them back to Perth next week with a 1-1. That is a great result for us no doubt.
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“We have learned from our experiences over the last few years and we are a side that is difficult to beat away from home in Europe,” added the Saints boss.
“We also always have a threat and I think we can score against any team.
“Tonight we had to work extremely hard for this and I can’t speak highly enough of the players.”
Typical for Wright, though, he warned that there is still a lot of work to be done in the home leg next week.
“It is only half-time in the tie but we do have people coming back and our squad will be boosted,” he said.
The gaffer also had warm words for the 1,000-strong travelling army.
He said: “Thanks once again to each and every one of them. We took them on a journey last year and would love to get near that this season.
“I think there is a great relationship between our fans and players.”