Having beaten Russian side Khimki 7-0 on aggregate in the 4th Qualifying Round; we’re now through to the European Super League group stage where we’ve been drawn in Group B along with Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos, and Hibernian. Hibs should be pretty easy to take 6 points from; I think the others might be a little more difficult to beat though, particularly Panathinaikos that almost made it through to the Champions League group stage.
I was very pleased with the 7-0 demolition of Khimki, and although we only won 1-0 away; winning 6-0 at home was certainly very pleasing, with five different players scoring, two of which were defenders. It’s quite exciting that we can score goals from all around the park, and it means that even when our strikers aren’t firing; goals are still likely to be scored, and hopefully we won’t be suffering from any serious goal droughts.
Luke Hobbs was one of the players to score against Khimki at the Kassam, and although he’s yet to score in the league this season; I’m hopeful that he’ll have another successful campaign, and get his name on the scoresheet a good few times throughout the season.
Panathinaikos is the first team we face in Group B, and they’ve got to travel to the Kassam to meet us. If it was an away game then I’d probably be feeling slightly nervy, as it’s at home though I feel that we’ve got quite a good chance. Following on from that game we’ve got Hibs away followed by Werder Bremen away though in Europe, and as we’ve never before travelled to Europe I’m unsure as to how we’re going to cope with those two games. Hopefully the players will be able to handle the pressure of playing so far away from home though, and we’ll be able to progress into the first knockout round.
On our day we can beat the best teams in England, so hopefully luck will be on our side when we head into Europe.
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