Andy Morrison: Connah's Quay Nomads boss relishing 'tough' Kilmarnock tie
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Andy Morrison played for Plymouth, Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool, Huddersfield and Manchester City
Connah's Quay Nomads boss Andy Morrison has "no illusions" how tough a task his side face against Scottish Premier outfit Kilmarnock in the Europa League.
The Welsh Premier League and Welsh Cup runners-up meet Killie in the first qualifying round.
Nomads, beaten finalists in last season's Scottish Challenge Cup, will be at home in the first leg on 11 July.
"Financially and logistically the Kilmarnock game is perfect," Morrison told BBC Wales Sport.
"It's no secret we've had major cutbacks this year so to be able to go somewhere within three or four hours by coach as opposed to flying across Europe makes a huge financial difference.
"They're a Scottish Premier League team and a top team from last season so we're under no illusions of how tough it will be.
"I'm sure Kilmarnock will be rubbing their hands and looking up to the skies and being thankful that they've managed to get Connah's Quay, a little trip down the road and the lowest ranked team in the competition."
Former Chelsea assistant manager Angelo Alessio has taken over at Kilmarnock from Steve Clarke, who is now Scotland head coach.
"I'm sure this game will be an opportunity for him to assess the squad and see what he thinks needs to be changed," former Manchester City defender Morrison added.
"It's a huge game for the players of Kilmarnock to impress the manager and make sure they are part of his plans."
Nomads were knocked out by Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus in last season's first qualifying round.
Once again Nomads' home leg will be staged at Rhyl's Belle Vue ground.
"Rhyl's ideal for me. It's anything but a comfort zone for the opposition," he said.
"It's a good old-fashioned Welsh ground."
Also in the Europa League first qualifying round Barry Town or Northern Ireland's Cliftonville will meet Norway's Haugesund while Cardiff Met will face Cork City if they overcome Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg in the preliminary round
Welsh Premier League champions The New Saints will face the winners of the Champions League preliminary round in the first qualifying round.
Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps , Andorran side FC Santa Colom, Tre Penne of San Marino and Kosovo's Feronikeli are the sides involved in the preliminary round.
Scott Ruscoe's side, who are also Welsh Cup holders, will be at home in the first leg on 9 or 10 July with the second leg away a week later.
New Saints beat Connah's Quay Nomads 3-0 in the Welsh Cup final to complete the double
Kosovo's capital Pristina will host the preliminary round, with the semi-finals on Tuesday, 25 June and the final three days later.
"It's a bit of a different situation to what we've had before because we've usually got the team, done our work and look at all their games and all their strengths and weaknesses," Ruscoe said.
"We know all about Red Imps having played them and Tre Penne we beat comfortably a couple of years ago.
"Two out of the four we know about so it's the other two that are unknown to us.
"We'll take nothing for granted. The trap we can fall into is thinking we should win this first round, that it's going to be easy and that we just have to turn up.
"That's ridiculous really because they are all champions of their countries."