Fiorentina v The New Saints: Welsh history-makers prove a point
Of course, history quickly gathers dust. After reaching one goal, new dreams were spoken of in Tuscany.
Harrison mentioned pre-game about how 7-8 points could be enough to finish 24th in the new structure and reach the knockout stage, though at that point you wonder how many believed TNS were genuinely targeting such a tally.
It turns out they are and for 65 minutes – before Fiorentina were forced to bring internationals off the bench to appease a concerned Curva of ultras and find a breakthrough from Yacine Adli and ex-Everton striker Moise Kean – they appeared they might even pick one up at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Harrison thinks the performance away to an iconic Italian name of European pedigree would give confidence, that this was a step forward. He was not alone.
“We definitely have a chance of getting there if we play at our best, but that’s always been the case,” said striker Declan McManus.
“We knew on paper this was our hardest game, albeit with five really hard games to come, but we know if we can go toe-to-toe with a team that’s been in the final two years running we can go and hurt anybody on our day.”
What will help will not only be the return to fitness of a number of players – including record signing MacManus whose appearance off the bench was only his second cameo since August – but also the way TNS are incrementally improving with each European lesson.
Knocked out of their Champions League route by Hungary’s Ferencvaros, Harrison bemoaned that the two-legged summer tie was over within 30 minutes of the first meeting that eventually finished 5-0.
It prompted a studious change of approach that could pay dividends for a team used to having the onus and odds in their favour when they play in their own league.
Maybe it was why Harrison and chairman Harris spoke of the expectation being to avoid embarrassment in this fixture, of not playing their usual attacking game. Harrison and players had wanted to show they had learned lessons.
“I was brought up a Celtic fan and I watched them the other night and that’s what can happen when you play against a top-level side,” accepted McManus, referencing Dortmund’s 7-1 win on Tuesday night.
“We showed some real steel against a side who are astronomical in size compared to ourselves, but we held our own for 65 minutes. I’m proud of every single one in the dressing room. Sides like that can just take it up that notch, and we will always be wary of that.”
The New Saints’ next opponents will also be wary that the Welsh team who became the first to reach this stage do not intend to just make up the numbers.
