IF, back in the summer of 2013, Liam Craig thought his chances of continental glory would be enhanced by moving from St Johnstone to Hibs then he was proved comprehensively wrong. On the night the Perth side were racking up one of the finest wins in recent memory against Rosenborg, Craig was grimly counting the minutes of a home debut at Easter Road which ended in a humiliating 7-0 home reverse to Swedish outfit Malmo.

"I only had two European games with Hibs and the home fixture isn’t one I’d really want to remember," he said. “Every time we made a mistake, they seemed to punish us. That shows the step up. In the league, you sometimes get away with that. In Europe against good teams like Malmo, you don’t. These teams have quality players. Although you don't know that much about them [Trakai] right now, they will have guys capable of scoring goals and hurting us."

But then so do St Johnstone. In addition to that victory against the Norwegians, they have taken the scalp of Swiss side Lucerne in recent times, only to find - against first Dinamo Minsk and Dinamo Tirana - that backing it up with another big win is an even more difficult business. Their most recent foray into European play ended in a wounding defeat to an Alashkert side from Armenia. Some would say the Europa League is an exercise in futility, considering only one side of the 102 first round entrants, Maccabi Tel Aviv, made it to the group stages last year.

As daunting as the task which faces St Johnstone (and Rangers) is, Craig's two spells at the club mean he is well placed to assess the giant strides made be this modest football club.

“The progress of the club since I first signed is incredible," he said. "Derek [McInnes] brought me here and we trained down the Inch. Looking back, even simple things like the balls we were using weren’t the best.

"We trained on public pitches and now you look at how far things have progressed. It’s funny as it’s only nine years ago. But the good thing though is that we take nothing for granted. We know that we don’t get anything if we don’t work hard. It’s the same year in year out in the league – and that’s the approach in Europe. If we take any team lightly, we will be out at the first hurdle. But we have a good work ethic in the squad and we have that quality to hurt teams."

In terms of taking nothing for granted, Alec Clelland will go out to scout Trakai this weekend but it is fair to say the Lithuanians aren't one of the grand old names of the European game. Founded as recently as 2005, this is just their fourth season in the Lithuanian top flight, and they have won just one European match, against Icelandic side HB Torshavn. It is with some black humour and typical modesty that Craig suggests they are a bit of a Lithuanian version of St Johnstone.

“They don’t score a lot but they don’t concede a lot either ... they are similar to us in that respect," he said.

Conventional wisdom would suggest you are better to get a difficult away leg out of the way first, but Craig is happy enough that Uefa are asking them to do it the other way round. Trakai play on an artificial surface, which will deprive St Johnstone of their main striker Steven MacLean - his joints are not risked on them. While the Perth Saints also face a mini defensive crisis due to an injury to Steven Anderson, Trakai are in the middle of their season and going along quite nicely. But Craig feels St Johnstone have the weight of experience and says they can put a marker down in front of their own supporters.

"I have only been involved in four European ties in total with Hibs and St Johnstone," he said. "But we do have a lot of experience in the squad and I think that will help us. We have boys who have played a lot of European football and the likes of Paul Paton, who has been with Northern Ireland. Having the home game first on the grass is also a positive. There will be a big crowd there and we need to use that to our advantage. I've been to European games at McDiarmid Park as a fan and I know what it's like when you have the full backing. I think we can have a right go at them and knowing that they play on astroturf, hopefully we can go to Lithuania with a good result."

While Liberian striker Oscar Dorley and Russian frontman Maksim Maksimov may be the Lithuanians' danger men, the closest thing to a well-kent face is former Hearts winger Devidas Cesnauskis, now 35.

“I think the big disappointment from previous European campaigns is that the club have had some big results, and then gone out to lesser teams," Craig said. "It’s important now that we go that step further. That’s not taking the opposition lightly – but we are not here to make up the numbers anymore."

At the heart of all this is Tommy Wright, the bluff Northern Irishman who somehow hasn't yet been poached by a bigger fish.

"It has been spoken about that the manager doesn't get recognition - even with individual awards," said Craig. "But he's great at knowing when to work us hard and when to let us recover. His man-management is massive. He trusts us and that is a big thing for the players. We trust him too and it's a great combination."