No Champions League hangover expected at Fir Park
He said: "Well, I wouldn't say it was an exhausting journey for them, to Athens and back, but Panathinaikos was a very tough game for Motherwell. Their budget will have been about 20 times more than Motherwell's budget so there has to be a level of realism about the size of task they faced. You can produce a shock in a one-off game but it is much more difficult over two legs. But we know that whatever team Stuart McCall puts out tomorrow will be a good team. He has done a magnificent job at Motherwell, they have a good team spirit and a good blend of players and don't forget they qualified for the Champions League last season so we know we will have to be at our best."
St Johnstone lost 2-0 at Hearts in their opening game of the league programme last week. However, Lomas saw enough to give him confidence for the trip to Lanarkshire. Saints were down to ten men just before half time when Gregory Tade was sent off for clashing with Andy Webster but for large spells of the second half it was the 10 men who dominated.
The Northern Irishman said: "If we can reproduce the second-half form we showed against Hearts last week then we have got a chance. I was very pleased with the way my boys went about the second half, how we passed the ball and how we created chances. We had five great chances to score away from home and if we had scored one of them then maybe we would have gone on to to win the game. I would settle for creating five chances against Motherwell but the key thing, obviously, is to take them."
Saints appealed against Tade's two-game ban for violent conduct but this was rejected at a Hampden meeting last night attended by the player, and Lomas. Tade will now miss games against Motherwell and Aberdeen. Lomas said: "I was disappointed with the outcome but don't want to go into things. We will take it on the chin."
