Pining for the Fjords

Tuesday night was disappointment for Rangers in Champions League qualifying, but the odd quirk there means that they skip over the playoff round and go straight to the Europa League group stage (something those that were on the champions path of that same competition don’t get). So whilst Hearts will be watching on tonight to see who they will face in their playoff round fixture – Viktoria Plzen hosts Kryvbas at 6pm oor time tonight holding a 2-1 lead from the away leg – Rangers will join Celtic in waiting until the end of the month to see who they’ll be facing next in Europe.

Our attention therefore now turns to the Conference League. With both St Mirren and Kilmarnock drawing the first leg at home, it’s going to be a difficult task for either of them to win in Norway tonight and make it through to the playoff round. Both games kick off at 6pm oor time and neither game are on TV. So unless you can get one of the streaming services, Radio Scotland might be your best bet as they’ll likely flip between the two matches.

Let’s start off in Bergen where St Mirren take a 1-1 over to the home of Brann. I don’t know if I should make a Game of Thrones joke about Brann the broken, or if I should make a Trolls joke about the Bergens being unhappy, so maybe I’ll just post the video of the highlights…

St Mirren have never drawn 1-1 before in the home leg of a European tie. The only time St Mirren drew the home leg first was in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup second round against Saint Etienne, but the bad news is they the lost the second leg 2-0.

The only other time St Mirren have been in Norway was a goalless draw against Tromso, having won 1-0 at Love Street in the first leg in the 1987/88 Cup Winners’ Cup first round. But there’s no footage of that one.

Brann had the weekend off and have dropped to third as a result. Viking overtook them on goal difference but are level on games played now at eighteen each. They’re both eight points behind leaders Bodo/Glimt who have played a game more. They’ll go to Fredrikstad on Sunday.

St Mirren lost 3-1 away to Aberdeen on Sunday and are sixth after two games. They’re away to Dundee United in the second round of the League Cup this coming Sunday.

Further north, Kilmarnock take a 2-2 draw to the Romssa Arena in Tromso. But don’t be fooled by the fact Tromso is in the Arctic Circle. It’s August, it’s actually 18 degrees there at kick off. It’s only reaching 16 degrees in Kilmarnock today!

The only time Kilmarnock have drawn 2-2 in the home leg was against Real Madrid in the 1965/66 European Cup first round. They lost 5-1 to the eventual winners as I previously noted two weeks ago after the draw with Cercle Brugge.

But that also means you’ve heard most of this bit before. As a reminder, Kilmarnock’s other draws in the home leg first include:

The 1969/70 Inter-Cities Fairs’ Cup third round, where they lost 2-0 to Dinamo Bacau in Romania after a 1-1 draw.

The 2001/02 UEFA Cup first round, where they lost 2-0 to Viking in Norway after a 1-1 draw. This was also their only other trip to Norway.

And of course the last round in the Europa League was a 1-0 defeat away to Cercle Brugge after drawing 1-1 at home.

Tromso, like Brann, also had the weekend off but are still thirteenth in the league, one point outside the relegation zone after eighteen games. They’ll go to KFUM on Sunday.

Kilmarnock lost 3-0 at home to St Johnstone on Sunday and are bottom of the league after two games. They’re away to Motherwell in the second round of the League Cup this Sunday.

As I said earlier, it’s going to be tough for St Mirren and Kilmarnock to get through. But if they do, they’ll give themselves a chance of reaching the group stages. It would be great to have four or five teams in that position, especially when we need all the coefficient points we can get this season.

Without looking too far ahead, Copenhagen are 1-0 up from the away leg against Ostrava and will face the winner of Kilmarnock’s game, while Astana are already awaiting the winner of St Mirren’s game after seeing off Corvinul Hunedoara 8-1 on aggregate yesterday.

So good luck to both St Mirren and Kilmarnock tonight. Who knows, maybe they can benefit from the home team getting a dodgy sending off like Dynamo Kyiv did on Tuesday.