The 16 year full circle journey for TNS' European hero Connor Roberts
Rewind the clock back 16 years and The New Saints' goalkeeper Connor Roberts was at the club, but not in a playing capacity.
A budding goalkeeper already on the books at a professional club, he would spend a week working for the Saints as part of his mandatory work experience, while still at Rhyn Park School on the edge of Oswestry.
At the time he looked destined for a career in the professional game away from Oswestry, having joined Tranmere Rovers as a youngster from Chirk AAA.
His early career moves saw him spend time at Tranmere and then go on to become a young professional at Everton.
Wales under 21 caps followed, as well as loan spells at places such as Fulham would follow, before he arrived in the Cymru Premier via stints at Chester and Cheltenham Town.
After playing for Bangor City, he became number two at the Saints before rising to become the first choice shot stopper following the retirement of long term keeper Paul Harrison.
It has been a remarkable 16 year journey for the 31-year-old, which has seen Roberts go from a young schoolboy on work experience at the club, to becoming arguably the most important player of their Conference League campaign.
Having been handed a tough draw against the likes of Fiorentina and Panathinaikos, the Saints players and staff have spoken about how key goal difference was going to be. Keeping scores down and nicking points where they could was going to be vital.
It is a team game to achieve that goal but to keep the goals against column down you need your shot stopper to step and them some. Roberts has done just that.
He has put in top displays right from the word go against Fiorentina and on Thursday against Panathinaikos, it was his stop stopping combined with some last ditch defending that kept the score down, and it gives the Saints an outside chance of progression heading into the final game of the competition.
For Roberts, his full circle journey from being at the club 16 years ago as a schoolboy fills him with immense pride, and that is joined with the fact he is the only senior player in the squad who hails from the town.
"I love it, I love it," admitted Roberts, after their 2-0 defeat to the Greek outfit on Thursday.
"People don't realise I actually did my work experience at the club 16 years ago, and they don't realise that I am from within the town and have my roots here.
"It has given me an excellent opportunity, and the club has been superb for me."
Heading into their final league phase game against the Celje next week, the Saints need a victory and a handful of other results to go their way.
Progression to some seems unlikely, but they still remain in with a chance and for Roberts, their displays in Europe have certainly exceeded expectation.
The shot stopper also revealed his pride in how the Saints took the game to the Greeks on Thursday, while at the same time being disappointed in the manner of the goals, which came through a re-bound and a penalty.
When asked if the Saints had exceeded expectations, he said: "I think so. When you look at the stats in possession and chances created.
"In this one we highlighted nicking a point, and we want to go and be aggressive next week and finish well.
"Personally I thought I did okay, but it was massive in terms of keeping it to two. 3-0 sounds like a walloping, so it was great to keep it down.
"It was unfortunate that we conceded the goals we did, a re-bound and a penalty."
