Brann star Ole Blomberg has vowed to ‘crush’ St Mirren after sparking last week’s controversial bust-up between the teams, writes Mark Walker in Norway.
Saints are in Norway for the second leg of the third qualifying tie in the UEFA Conference League, but face a difficult task after they rescued a 1-1 draw in Paisley last week. But the match erupted in controversy after Blomberg went down with cramp and St Mirren refused to hand the ball back after Brann put it out, suspecting the visitors of timewasting.
From a Shaun Rooney throw-in, St Mirren eventually won a corner and Toyosi Olusanya swept home a late leveller to infuriate the Norwegians. And 24-year-old winger Blomberg has vowed revenge. He said: “It’s common in Norwegian and European football to give the ball back. I ran a lot that game and I got a cramp and had to lay down.
“I had to be substituted and I was expecting to get the ball back but we’re done talking about that. We are going to crush them. The two games before that, I was injured.
“I’ve had 30 minutes and 60 minutes then that game it was almost 90 minutes - of course I was going to get a cramp. There was no question about it. They can talk all they want. I don’t care. We’re going to have to step up and hopefully, we can take this one home.
“We are expecting them to play how they played in the first leg. I’m guessing much of the same, maybe they will try and do something different to try and cover up the wings because we had a lot of room. For us, it’s important to kill them with passes and just keep the tempo up and hopefully, we can score more goals and create more chances.
“We are comfortable playing at home. We know this pitch very well and maybe it is going to be easier for us because there is more
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