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THURSDAY night was a historic moment for everyone connected with St Johnstone Football Club.
The Perth outfit recorded a famous draw against European giants Galatasaray to set up a McDiarmid Park second leg showdown next week.
Liam Gordon and his defensive teammates continued their fine form from last season and put in a gritty performance to keep superstars like Ryan Babel and Arda Turan relatively quiet.
As a Perth boy it was a special night for Gordon, and he admits he will take the memory of playing Galatasaray in their own back yard to his grave.
“It was incredible. I said to the chairman at the end: ‘I bet you thought you’d seen it all’,” he beamed at the full-time whistle. “Going off last season, then we’ve had this. It was an unbelievable result for the club. Yet again, people wrote us off going into it but we’ll continue to prove them wrong.
“That gives us great satisfaction. And it was great that supporters back home were able to watch it on TV. Hopefully we’ve given them something to cheer about and we can get them all in next week for yet another huge occasion for the club.
“The night before the game when we were training was amazing. But probably the most surreal moment was when we went out to warm up on Thursday night.
“The crowd were in and they were whistling at us. You just thought: ‘Jeez, this is ridiculous, the position we’re now in’. We were playing Galatasaray in a Europa League qualifier, which is just amazing.
“Their fans are world renowned. And being in that really hostile atmosphere is something we’ll take to our graves. It was a pleasure to play in front of them – even if all they did was give us abuse for 90 minutes. I’ll cherish that for the rest of my days.”
Saints were impressive and took the lead via a Jason Kerr penalty just before the hour mark. Sacha Boey equalised just moments later, but Saints held out to set up a tasty tie in the Fair City next week.
Gordon continued: “Going up against guys like Babel and Turan was a great experience. They took Van Aanholt off at half-time, so it was just surreal.
“We were up against top players, who were so sharp and technically gifted. It was a really high level opposition. We needed our keeper, our back three, everyone to turn up on the night. And you need a wee bit of luck at times.
“But you make your own luck as well and it was a great performance by all. What an occasion it’s going to be for the people of Perth next week. Hopefully we get the go ahead for a full house and can give the fans a night to remember for the rest of their lives.
“The tie is in the balance, we’ve got a great chance. We played well in Turkey but it’s now about going back home and finishing the job.”
Before Thursday’s game, Davidson’s team will be sharply brought back down to earth when they take on Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.
Ahead of the league clash Gordon insisted that he and his teammates would be fully focussed on gaining their first three points of the campaign.
He added: “That’s the one thing about this group of boys, no-one gets carried away with themselves. We’re back to league duty on Sunday and it’s a massive game for us – just as big as Thursday night.
“It’s time to get the professional heads back on, we need to recover and be ready to go again on Sunday.”
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