Two miss out for St Johnstone

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However, boss Tommy Wright will be able to call upon the services of new signings Joe Shaughnessy, Brad McKay and John Sutton for the first qualifying round tie.

Brian Graham, Gary Miller, James McFadden and Danny Swanson, meanwhile, have all moved on after helping the Perth team finish fourth in last year’s Scottish Premiership.

This is the fourth consecutive season St Johnstone have played European football and they are bidding to reach the group phase of the competition for the first time.

They have flown more than 3,000 miles to take on a side which will participate in continental competition for the first time.

While Alashkert are on the up having recorded a best-yet fourth place in the Armenia Premier League last season, the visitors are optimistic of obtaining a positive result.

Goalkeeper Alan Mannus has watched them and said: “We were given a DVD of their highlights and different aspects of their game.

“I’m sure we’ll do more stuff on them before the game to find out more about them as well. As always, we go into the game hoping we can start off well and get a good result.

“Obviously we want to get through to the next round, as do they, but the aim is to get through over the two matches.

“Preparations going into the game have been good as everyone is fit and ready to go. We weren’t off for very long with the end of the season only being a few weeks ago.

“But all the lads knew they would be coming back into it after a short space of time so everyone kept themselves in good shape.”

On the trip to the Armenian capital Yerevan, Mannus added: “It was quite a long journey. We did about three hours then we stopped for a while in north Italy and then did another three or four hours. All the players were in good spirits.”