Stephen Bradley hoping to avoid another long Icelandic evening

In the summer, Iceland is renowned for its long evenings but Shamrock Rovers head coach Stephen Bradley hopes that the sun won't go down too early on his side's Champions League campaign.

For the second season running, the Hoops find themselves in the small North Atlantic island in the hope of getting over the first hurdle in Europe's top club competition.

They were already on the brink of an exit when they travelled to Iceland in July of last year, having lost the first leg in Tallaght 1-0 to then domestic champions Breidablik. A 2-1 defeat in the return condemned them to an ultimately fruitless Europa Conference League qualifier against Ferencvaros.

This time around, Bradley's men make the trip to face current champions Víkingur Reykjavík knowing that a positive result could set them up nicely for the second leg on home soil next week.

Speaking ahead of the game, Bradley pointed out that lessons learned against Breidablik can be used to beat their compatriots this time around.

"Very similar going forward, they play with similar threats and they try similar things," he said. "There are definitely areas that we can exploit and hurt them but we know we've got to be at our very top level.

"In Europe, if you're not at your top level you very quickly get punished and get found out. We know where they're strong, we know where we can hurt them but we have to make sure we're focused."

Unlike in previous seasons, the four-in-a-row League of Ireland champions find themselves lagging behind on the domestic front as they prepare for an assault on the European qualifiers.

They currently sit fourth in the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division table, three points behind newly-promoted Waterford and 13 behind leaders Shelbourne, albeit with a