Steven MacLean reluctantly accepted a couple of seasons ago that playing on the plastic pitches of Scotland was out of the question.
But having to miss out on a trip to Lithuania because St Johnstone’s Europa League opponents don’t have a grass surface will be a far more bitter pill to swallow.
As the Perth players gathered round a smartphone at their St Andrews University pre-season training base on Monday to watch the first round draw pan out, MacLean’s first thoughts were different to the rest of the group.
And, unfortunately, the reality quickly hit home that he would be ruled out of the away leg against FK Trakai.
After the initial disappointment sunk in, the veteran forward turned his focus to making sure he puts in a good performance at McDiarmid Park next Thursday night to leave Saints in a strong position for the match he will miss.
“Somebody said that the Faroes team we could have drawn had a plastic pitch but I didn’t know about the Lithuanian one,” MacLean said.
“As soon as we heard the draw I looked it up.
“Obviously I saw that they do have an artificial pitch. I’m obviously really disappointed but I’ll just have to try and help us do a job in the home leg, if selected, and send the boys away with a good result.
“I’m not going to gloss it up, I’m gutted.
“I’m used to missing games at Hamilton and Kilmarnock but European trips don’t come round as often.
“It just makes the first game even more important for me, personally.
“I’ll be doing everything I can to help us get a lead.”
Maclean will be giving his all to get among the goals at McDiarmid but he is aware that the other end of the pitch is probably more important for Saints.
“When you’re at home in the first leg a clean sheet is really important,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing.
“Any sort of advantage you can get is massive.
“A one or two goal lead would give us an advantage.”
Trakai’s season is up and running but Saints’ first public match will be the European game.
And MacLean hopes that will be a positive factor as both teams do their best to work out the opposition’s style of play and strengths and weaknesses.
“They’ll get DVDs on us but that’s from last season,” he said. “They won’t get the chance to see us play because all our games this week are behind closed-doors.
“I’m sure the gaffer will do his homework.
“We’ll watch them and get an idea on how they set-up.
“The first game will be really important as far as that is concerned as well.
“We’ll be looking to impose ourselves on the game and see how they react to that.
“They’ll probably come here and be stuffy and try to pick us off on the counter-attack. They’ll be cagey and difficult to break down – that’s what we’ll be expecting.
“That’s something we’ll have to be wary of. It happens all the time in European football.
“You can’t worry about the second leg. We’ve got to take care of the game at McDiarmid first.”
