St. Johnstone managed one of the most memorable results in their history by holding Galatasaray to a 1-1 draw last week in Istanbul. Can they build on such a display and complete the massive shock by eliminating the Turkish giants in the second leg of this UEFA Europa League qualifying tie at McDiarmid Park?
It was indeed a special evening for Callum Davidson and his troops last Thursday in Istanbul.
Before the start of the match, they would have definitely taken the 1-1 draw all day long, but there is some kind of bitterness in the mouth of St. Johnstone’s fans given that their team dropped a one-goal lead against the ten-man opposition.
St. Johnstone got everything they needed when Galatasaray’s keeper Fernando Muslera was sent off for causing a penalty-kick which was successfully converted by Jason Kerr.
It was a phenomenal situation for the Saints with more than 30 minutes left to play.
Nevertheless, they gave up the lead just two minutes later as Sacha Boey came up with a super-quick equalizer for the Turks.
Galatasaray thus remain favorites to advance into the playoffs round, especially after surviving a one-goal deficit with ten men on the pitch in the final half an hour of the first leg.
The Scottish outfit will thus likely keep the main focus on defending their own net in the rematch in Perth.
After all, St. Johnstone conceded only one goal in their opening two games of the new Scottish Premiership season.
They have failed to do much at the opposite end, playing out back-to-back low-scoring draws to Ross County (0-0 on the road) and Motherwell (1-1 at home).





译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

圣约翰斯通上周在伊斯坦布尔1-1战平加拉塔萨雷，取得了球队历史上最令人难忘的成绩之一。他们能否在这样的表现基础上，在欧联杯预选赛第二回合淘汰土耳其巨人，完成这场巨大的冲击?
上周四在伊斯坦布尔，对于卡勒姆·戴维森和他的部队来说，这的确是一个特殊的夜晚。
在比赛开始之前，他们肯定会一整天都保持1-1的平局，但考虑到他们的球队在对阵有10人的对手时只领先一球，圣约翰斯通的球迷们心里有些苦涩。
当加拉塔萨雷的守门员费尔南多·穆斯莱拉因为制造了一个点球而被罚出场时，圣·约翰斯通得到了他们所需要的一切。
在比赛还剩30多分钟的时候，这对圣徒队来说是一种非凡的情况。
尽管如此，两分钟后，他们就失去了领先优势，因为萨沙·博伊(Sacha Boey)以超高速扳平了比分。
加拉塔萨雷因此成为晋级季后赛的热门人选，尤其是在第一回合的最后半小时，在10人在场的情况下落后一球后。
因此，在珀斯的重赛中，苏格兰队很可能会把主要精力放在守住自己的网。
毕竟，圣约翰斯通在新赛季苏格兰联赛的头两场比赛中只丢了一个球。
他们在另一边也没能做什么，在客场和罗斯郡(客场0-0)和马瑟韦尔(主场1-1)的比赛中连续打了两场低比分的平局。