Mark Atkinson, sports editor for The Scotsman, reckons St Mirren must be wary of facing a side who already have plenty of competitive football under their belt this season.
“I think the difficulty for St Mirren tonight will be that they’re coming up against a team that’s 14 games into their current season,” he said.
“That’s always a difficulty for Scottish clubs in these draws when you come up against Scandinavian opposition that they have the match fitness.
“If you look at the two squads on paper and you look at the competitiveness of the Icelandic league, you would expect the Scottish team to come through.
“Valur have got one standout name in Gilffy Sigurdsson, a former Iceland internationalist, who played in the Premier League in England for Swansea and notably Everton. So obviously some stardust in that midfield.
“So they’re up against a decent team. There’s no question about that. But St Mirren under Stephen Robinson have been a decent team themselves.
“They played some really good football over the past two seasons and deservedly got the European place in the last campaign.
“And they’ll go there with the confidence of keeping the tie alive and bringing back to Paisley next week. That’s got to be the ambition.”
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