The New Saints v Astana: Josh Daniels returning to Shrewsbury for big European night

The JD Cymru Premier champions face Astana from Kazakhstan in their opening home league phase match in the Uefa Conference League at Shrewsbury Town’s Croud Meadow (8pm).

The versatile Irish player, enjoying another consistent season for Saints at right-back, had two seasons playing for Shrewsbury in League One before moving to Park Hall in June 2022.

Still living locally in the Shrewsbury area, Daniels said: “I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t been back at the ground since I left.

“I think it was the last game of the season, we played Wigan at home when I was there, so it’s a nice moment to go back and have the family there, and, obviously, it’s only a five-minute drive as well, so that makes it a lot easier.”

As he prepares for tonight’s big game, Daniels reflected on just how special it is for Saints to have qualified for the league phase of a European competition for the first time.

“Obviously, it was an ambition of the chairman and the club and all the players and staff,” he said. “I think to eventually get here it was something special for us all.

“It’s a moment that we will all sort of cherish for the rest of our lives because it’s the first time any Welsh domestic league club has done it.

“To be honest, we had such a high standard season last year and it was just like the icing on the cake really coming into the new season and playing in Europe and qualifying. I think it was testament to everybody involved.”

Daniels relished the chance to play in Italy earlier this month when Craig Harrison’s side gave a good account of themselves before eventually losing 2-0 to Serie A giants Fiorentina.

“It was amazing to the honest,” said Daniels, 28, who scored twice in 51 appearances for Shrewsbury before joining Saints. “Obviously, such a historic club, and Florence was absolutely beautiful as well.

“The ground and the club itself just sort of colossal, the European football side, so again just one of them ones where you look back on in years to come and realise the magnitude of the game and the team. It was unbelievable.

“To say that now that we’ve played them and done quite well, obviously we got beat 2-0 there, but I think a lot of people wrote us off straight away.

“The quality they had and brought off the bench just shows you what size the club is, but it was a brilliant experience.”

Daniels feels Saints can take confidence from the fact they competed so well against Fiorentina into their remaining five league phase fixtures, beginning with Astana tonight.

He added: “I think especially in Europe this season, even in the qualifiers, we’ve been quite strong defensively. It’s not usually our normal style of play in the league because we go and try and play a lot of football and get forward. It’s attacking and nice on the eye.

“But I think we’ve added that to our side of the game where we’ve had to be resilient and pick our moments and try and break on teams.

“Obviously, every opponent’s different, so to be fair to the gaffer and Sarge (assistant manager Chris Seargeant) they’ll come back and give us our best game plan. I think doing that sort of hard side of the game where it’s maybe not as nice on the eye, we’ve shown that we can do that as well.

“I think that’s massive, especially coming up against so many different styles and bigger teams, and then maybe teams that you probably think you can exploit their weaknesses.”