Larne midfielder Leroy Millar says the team is treating tonight’s Uefa Conference League play-off first leg against Lincoln Red Imps as just another game despite knowing the magnitude of the occasion.
Victory over the side from Gibraltar over two legs would see Larne become the first Irish League team to reach the group stage of a major European competition.
“We know it’s going to be massive for the fans, club and even the league – we’re one round away from the group stages,” said Millar.
“But we’re not really thinking like that and it’s important not to get caught up in that. The boys are just treating it as another game and hopefully we can keep the tie in the balance going into next week.”
Lincoln Red Imps have European pedigree, having stunned Celtic in the Champions League in 2016.
Premiership champions Larne, who beat Kosovan outfit Ballkani in a shootout to make the play-off, will also have to battle the heat at the Estadio Algarve in the Portuguese city of Faro.
“It’s going to be a completely different game to playing in the Irish League,” added Millar.
“The main factor is the heat and we’ll probably not be able to get about and play our game the way we usually do.
“We’ll adjust but we trained last night and the conditions were not as bad compared to those in Kosovo a couple of weeks ago. The boys are prepared, we’ve done our homework [on Lincoln] and hopefully we’ll go out there and get a result.”
