JOE Redmond knows how important European football is to the St Pat’s supporters.
He remarked: “We always get great travelling fans. They sell out nearly every section we’ve got. However they get there, they get there.”
And this season is no different. The Saints had to request additional tickets for fans travelling to Lithuania for next week’s away leg with Hegelmann.
And how those who got the extra tickets will get there will be a magical mystery tour.
The direct flight to Kaunas that cost €700 last week is fully booked.
But the 210 fans who got the tickets will be at Richmond Park for tonight’s first leg more in hope than expectation given the Saints’ woes.
Sixth in the league, they have scored just one goal in their last six matches and have one win in their last nine.
It is a long way from the end of last term when Stephen Kenny’s men won nine in a row as they went from third from the bottom to third from the top to qualify for Europe.
But captain Redmond insisted that their performances are better than the results, so confidence is not affected too badly.
The defender, 25, said: “There is not a concern, we’ve got a lot of quality.
“We’re creating chances but we haven’t got the ball in the net. We know the ability we have.”
Boss Kenny has a similar view and believes their recent run is just a reminder that the club he took charge of 14 months ago is still a work in progress.
He added: “If everything was perfect I would not have been brought in in the first place.
“It didn’t look like much was wrong — we were flying — and we still had a lot to iron out. There is a level of frustration and it is unacceptable.
“I am hugely disappointed with that but I understand that everyone is giving everything. I know we have the capacity to score goals and we will do so.”
And he hopes Europe can be the catalyst for a strong finish to the year, just as it was last season when the Saints flew up the table by winning those final nine games.
He added: “The players worked so hard last year to come up from third bottom.
“It looked so unlikely at that stage. The reason we worked so hard to qualify for Europe is when you get there you want to make an impact.
“There’s no point in doing it and just getting knocked out. You have to show a level of ambition and we will have to fight hard over two legs to get through.”
But he insisted that Hegelmann — named after the German freight company who founded the club 16 years ago — are a team not to be underestimated.
TONIGHT’S OPPOSITION
They do not have much history having climbed the Lithuanian divisions and have one previous European appearance — a 5-0 loss to Macedonians Shkupi two years ago.
But they are second in their domestic league, are coached by Lithuanian legend Andrius Skerla and have a side with plenty of experience.
Kenny added: “Traditionally, Lithuanian teams would have been mainly Lithuanian players.
“But they obviously have good investment because they have two African forwards. The main one is from Cameroon. One starts and the other comes on.
“They’ve a Brazilian No 10, a Japanese left-back, a Serbian midfielder and a Ukrainian winger. So they’re a multi- national team.
“It’s a fairly new club overall and they’re going well in the league. They’re quite an attacking team. I don’t think this is going to be us getting on the ball and having waves of attack.
“I think this will be . . . they are quite an attacking team. They’ll try to control a lot. We’ll have to fight to earn the right to do that. We have worked so hard to get there. When you are in there, you have to make it count.”
