Coleraine striker Eoin Bradley accepts Oran Keaney's men will be “stepping into the unknown” in tonight’s Europa League clash with La Fiorita at the Showgrounds (7.30pm).
With the San Marino league in lockdown since March due to the global pandemic, it has been near impossible for the Bannsiders to scout tonight’s opponents in any great detail.
“It’s been hard to get much detail on La Fiorita due to the current situation,” said Bradley.
“We know Linfield beat them 1-0 on aggregate in the Champions League in 2017 and Stephen Lowry played for the Blues that year.
“Stephen has told us a fair bit about what they were like back then, but those ties are three years ago now so we can’t really read too much into them.
“As always it will be a challenge in Europe but we’re at home, it’s a one-off tie and we’ll never have a better chance of progressing to the next round.”
The winners of tonight’s preliminary round tie will travel to face Maribor in Slovenia in the first qualifying round a week today.
And Coleraine, who secured a runners-up finish in the Danske Bank Premiership last season, boast two massive incentives to advance.
As well as pocketing an additional windfall of £215,000 for reaching the next round, it is now 18 years since the Bannmen progressed in a European competition.
The last time was in the old Intertoto Cup in 2002 when the North West men beat Saint Julia of Andorra, only to lose to French club Troyes in the next round.
“It’s a big incentive to advance through a round in Europe, not only from a football point of view, but also a financial one as well for the club,” said Bradley.
“We’re going into the unknown a bit, but they’re in the same boat as us and we’ll be doing everything possible to win the tie and reach the next round.”
Coleraine are without inventive winger Jamie Glackin who broke his arm in last month’s Irish Cup semi-final defeat to Ballymena United.
