Michael O'Halloran has thrown gobby LASK boss Dominik Thalhammer’s “disgusting” slur back in his face - insisting St Johnstone take his comments as a compliment.
Saints are preparing for the most lucrative game in their history against the Austrians in Thursday's winner-takes-all Europa Conference League play-off in Perth.
The tie is finely poised with Chris Kane’s goal enough to secure a 1-1 first leg draw in Klagenfurt after which rattled Thalhammer accused Saints of long ball football which was “disgusting to play against”.
But O’Halloran reckons LASK were every bit as direct as Saints.
And he insists Callum Davidson ’s double winning heroes will wear Thalhammer’s comments as a badge of honour as they attempt to bring the Linz side’s Euro hopes to an ugly end at McDiarmid.
He said: “We take it as a compliment as it means we are doing something right. We don’t exactly want to be a nice side to play against.
“He said we were horrible and that’s his opinion, we have shown we can do the dirty side of the game but we can also play good football.
“Getting the draw over there has put us in a good position.
“It’s another cup final for us, another one-off big game.
“People say we’re horrible to play against but we’ve got some really good footballers as well.
“The more games we play in Europe, the better we’re getting.
“They were very direct in the first game but we will work on a few things and the gaffer will have us ready for Thursday.
“We watched a bit of them before the game but I didn’t expect them to be so direct, especially in the first half.
“We were a bit disappointed over there not to come away with the victory.
“That shows how far we have come as we go away in Europe expecting to get a result.
“At home we want to be on the front foot and in the ascendancy.
“We have pace in the team, we have plenty of strengths.
“If you look at the team, last week Kano was excellent and he led the line as well as getting a goal.”
Saints stand to pocket a minimum £3million if they advance past LASK and into the group stage of a European competition for the first time in their history.
That would be enough to cover the McDiarmid Park wage bill twice over.
Not surprisingly, bonuses have been mentioned in the dressing room.
But O’Halloran reckons the prestige of playing on the big stage for at least another six games outweighs any financial benefits that would come the players’ way.
He said: “The bonuses have been mentioned!
“No, we’ll treat it like any other game.
“We know the incentive. Playing football until December against some top European sides would be massive.
“The footballing side is more important to us as players than the financial side.
“It would be the chance to put yourselves up against big teams. There are clubs like Tottenham in this competition.
“You’ve already seen what it was like here for the Galatasaray game and Thursday is going to be a big crowd as well.
“To get three more big nights at McDiarmid Park would be unbelievable.”
