Saints striker Toyosi Olusanya has echoed St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson by insisting that the Paisley side have to be bold as they look to take a first leg lead to Norway next week.
Having taken European football to Paisley for the first time in 37 years, St Mirren don’t want it to slip through their grasp. They host Brann tonight in the third round Europa Conference qualifier as they look to take another step towards the group stages of the tournament.
The Norwegians are second in the Norwegian top flight with 18 games gone and are also seasoned competitors in the European environment. But Robinson compared the clash to the same mentality required when St Mirren play Celtic or Rangers with Olusanya insisting that there is an inevitable confidence about Saints given how they have started the season.
“The win over Valur has given us massive confidence,” he said. “As a kid I always dreamed of playing in big European games. When I came to St Mirren I didn’t think there would be European football but the team has grown so much over the past couple of years. This is what we set out to achieve last season and we got what we deserved.
“In your career you know that these opportunities might only come around once so you need to play in the moment. Everyone is buzzing for it and there is a confidence within the team.”
European football, of course, would have felt quite some distance away during Olusanya’s loan move at Arbroath. Robinson made it clear what the striker had to do of he wanted to be part of the first-team picture with Olusanya more than taking it on board.
“I had to go away, come back and work harder,” he said. “It’s motivating for me to keep pushing and not just rest on my laurels. I want to keep on trying to improve myself.
“I always had a dream of scoring in a European competition but in my Arbroath days, I was a long, way away. I’m glad to have overcome that step and now I’m here. I think it was about being more confident in myself and working hard day to day but not trying to overwork and be the hardest worker.
“It was unreal last week. To have a sell-out crowd at home and for myself personally to score in a European game was a dream come true. It was amazing.”
The winners of this tie will play Astana or CS Corvinul in the play-off round with Olusanya keen to take that next step.
“We feel good. The morale is really good and we’re just trying to focus on ourselves. We want to take on from the game on Sunday, stay positive and hopefully, the results keep coming.
“We want to set out and play our game and we’ll see how it pans out at the end of the 90 minutes.
“We are all confident, we are all positive and we’re going to play our own game and see where it takes us.”
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