John Sutton was part of a Motherwell side that made light work of turning over a 1-0 deficit from a Europa League trip into the unknown.
But he believes St Johnstone have a much bigger task on their hands against Alashkert FC at McDiarmid Park tonight.
Back in 2009 the Steelmen put eight goals past Albanian outfit Flamurtari Vlore in their second leg.
The Englishman does not expect this evening’s Armenian visitors to crumble on Scottish soil, however.
“The temperatures were similar in Albania and Armenia,” he said.
“It might even have been hotter in Albania with Motherwell. We played that match at four in the afternoon.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=qbN_DXRq61A%3Frel%3D0
“But I wouldn’t say there were similarities between the two teams.
“We always felt confident of turning the Albanian match around. It’s not as if we’re not confident now, but I think it will be a tough task.
“We would have liked to play better but Alashkert are certainly a decent team.
“They’ve signed Bosnian and Ukranians and if you can attract players from other countries then you’re obviously not a bad side.
“If you look at football in general there no pushovers anymore.
“I grew up when England would beat the likes of San Marino by a ridiculous scoreline but just a few weeks ago Portugal were in Armenia and had it tough.”
https://youtube.com/watch?v=wK_qCy_T8zc%3Frel%3D0
Saints will try and seize control of the second leg from the off, but Sutton pointed out that there needs to be an element of caution to their game-plan.
“We have to play better in this match,” he said. “We know that.
“Obviously we need to pose more of a threat because we have to score goals.
“We didn’t create too much over there, even though it was difficult to get intensity into our game in that heat.
“It was difficult to press high up the pitch in Armenia.
“But hopefully this time we can show a bit more intensity and get on top of them.
“We’ve got to score at least two and keep it solid at the back as well. Because if they get one it puts a different perspective on the tie. Scoring three would be very difficult.
“Scoring the first goal would be really handy and give us something to build on.”
The big difference between the first match and the second is that Saints now know what they’re up against.
“The manager had a tough job trying to work out how they would play,” Sutton admitted. “And who they would play.
“We knew it would be hard, which was confirmed in the match. We certainly didn’t think we just had to turn up.
“There’s no substitute for actually playing a team.
“People can speculate in the papers or on Twitter but until you face a team you don’t really know what you’ve got in store.”
Perth new-boy Sutton knows all about past St Johnstone achievements in Europe, and he’s determined that the class of 2015 will write another chapter tonight.
“The boys have done brilliantly in previous years to knock out Rosenborg and Luzern,” he said.
“The pedigree is there to do well against a bigger team in a later round but we have to get through this tricky one first.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time here so far.
“Pre-season has gone well, which made it even more disappointing that last Thursday was our worst performance.
“We’re certainly not out of the tie.”