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Ole Didrik Blomberg has vowed SK Brann will “crush” St Mirren after he was at the centre of a major flashpoint in the first-leg.
The 24-year-old winger had gone down with cramp in the final few minutes of the tie in Paisley, however, St Mirren played on with the injury viewed as a time-wasting tactic.
Around one minute later and the hosts scored a last-gasp leveller with Toyosi Olusanya bundling over the line to restore parity ahead of the second-leg in Bergen.
Blomberg was taken aback by the situation having expected the ball to have been returned to his side as he was substituted off – as he insisted his injury struggle was legitimate.
The defiant Norwegian winger is ignoring criticism of his behaviour and is confident his side will dump St Mirren out at Brann Stadion.
“It's common in Norwegian and European football to give the ball back,” said Blomberg of the incident in Paisley. "I ran a lot that game and I got a cramp and had to lay down.
"I had to be substituted and I was expecting to get the ball back but we're done talking about that. We are going to crush them.
"The two games before, I was injured.
"I've had 30 minutes and 60 minutes then that game it was almost 90 minutes - of course I was going to get a cramp. There was no question about it.
"They can talk all they want. I don't care. We're going to have to step up tomorrow and hopefully we can take this one home."
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SK Brann have home advantage for the second leg with around 14,000 expected inside the stadium on Thursday – St Mirren will have a 750-strong backing from travelling fans.
For Blomberg, having the decisive fixture in Bergen could be a major swing factor after only achieving a draw in Paisley despite a dominant display.
He said: "We are comfortable playing on our home field. We know this pitch very well and maybe it is going to be easier for us because there is more space, of course.
"We will see how they will handle that.
"I think it is a lot better to have the last match at home.
"Everything comes down to this match, we have got everything to win and it's going to be a full stadium. It's going to be a good atmosphere.
"For us, it's important to kill them with passes and just keep the tempo up and hopefully, we can score more goals and create more chances.
"It would have been good to come into this game with a 1-0 in the bag.
"When it is 1-1 we are going to have to attack. We're better when we are on the front foot and we have to score goals."
