St Mirren boss eyes 'life-changing, fairytale' win

Stephen Robinson believes his side can play better in Norway

Stephen Robinson has urged his St Mirren players to grasp a "fairytale" opportunity to progress in the Europa Conference League that would be "life changing" for them, the club and their supporters.

The Paisley side head to Norway to face Brann on Thursday with the sides tied at 1-1 after the first leg of their third qualifying round tie.

Whoever wins will face either Romanian second-tier team Corvinul Hunedoara or Astana, with the side from Kazakhstan leading 2-1 from their first leg, in the play-off round.

"We're one game from getting into the next round and then with a great chance of progressing, which could be life changing for the football club and the players," Robinson said.

The St Mirren manager realises how further progress would be greeted in their home town.

"You saw in Paisley after we equalised it was going mad, everyone was full of joy," he said. "We’ve waited a long, long time for this.

"I'd say ultimately that we have to continue to give more regular excursions into Europe rather than once every 40-odd years.

"Everyone would be delighted, just to give the fans another journey, another trip, they will be out here again in their numbers in Norway and it’s really expensive to travel to these countries, so that’s the motivation for the players."

St Mirren, who finished fifth in the Scottish Premiership last season, followed up an opening-day 3-0 win over Hibernian with a 3-1 defeat away to Aberdeen on Sunday.

Robinson realises his side "have to step up another 10% to beat this team", who were runners-up in Norway last season and currently sit third.

"We believe we're much better than we showed," he said. "We have to be against a very good Brann side. And that is the motivation, to show people how good you are.

"We have to play better. Out of possession, we were very good. We were very well drilled, very organised.

"But we didn't play. It was arguably one of our worst performances on the ball in a few months. It improved immensely against Aberdeen."

Robinson realises that beating Brann would be viewed as a major surprise.

"When you look at the size of the football club and the resources that they have, it’s way beyond anything that we can imagine," he added.

"That’s why to compete with them and come out with a result without playing anywhere near our best, then it’s a fantastic show of strength, fantastic show of commitment to keep going through to the 96th minute."