HAVERFORDWEST County AFC make their long-awaited return to European competition when they take on KF Shkendija of North Macedonia in the first leg of their Europa Conference qualifier tonight (Thursday, ko 7pm).

Tony Pennock's squad arrived in the capital Skopje on Tuesday and had a training session at the 33,000 capacity national Tose Proeski Arena on Wednesday, where the Bluebirds will play their first European match in 19 years against the club from Tetovo.

Like Haverfordwest, their own ground is not currently suitable to host UEFA matches, and therefore the game will take place at the home of the North Macedonia national team, ahead of the return leg at the Cardiff City Stadium next Thursday, 20 July.

Pennock admits that his side face a huge task against four-times national champions, who have also won the Macedonian Cup twice, in 2016 and 2018, and well as the Macedonian Football Super Cup in 2011, but the squad is in upbeat mood.

"They will start as big favourites, but it is up to us to give a good account of ourselves," said former Hull City coach Pennock, who is without injured captain Dylan Rees.

"I have watched all their pre-season games and they play good football. We have to be disciplined without the ball and keep it as tight as we can.

"Hopefully we can do enough to give us a chance going into the home leg."

He added: "We qualified the hard way, finishing seventh in the league and winning the play-offs, but reaching Europe is a great achievement for the lads and is something the club want to be doing year in, year out.

"Hopefully the experience of getting here will motivate the lads to qualify for Europe again next season."

KF Shkendija, who finished third in their domestic league last season, have quallifed for Europe 11 times in the last 12 seasons, and have reached the play-off round of Europa League qualifying three times, losing out to Gent, AC Milan and Rosenborg.

And last summer, they advanced to the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League after seeing off Ararat Yerevan of Armenia and Valmiera of Latvia, before eventually narrowly losing in a penalty shoot-out against AIK of Sweden.

Four years ago, they edged past The New Saints 5-4 on aggregate in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, having won the first leg 5-0 at home, before the Saints came agonisingly close to a comebak with a 4-0 win in the second leg.

The team, which consists of a mix of players from North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, go into the game as firm favourites under new manager Ardian Nuhiu, who was only appointed to his current role last month.

Western Telegraph: Haverfordwest County training under the lights in Skopje Haverfordwest County training under the lights in Skopje (Image: Haverfordwest County AFC)

Haverfordwest secured their place in this season's competition by beating Newtown 4-3 on penalties in the Cymru Premier's European play-off final in May, having only returned to Welsh football's top-flight in 2020 after a four-year absence.

It has represented a remarkable journey under Londoner Rob Edwards, who became chairman in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, having never previously visited the town, let alone seen the club in action.

Haverfordwest are understood to net around £200,000 just for being in the qualifying stages of the Uefa Europa Conference, and Edwards has described winning the Cymru Premier play-off final at Newtown in May was "a massive game-changer."

"It's an opportunity to earn a significant amount which can have a lasting impact on the club, and will certainly help us because there remains so much more we want to achieve here. Once you've had a taste of success, you want more," he said.

"Certainly being in Europe has created a huge buzz around the town. It's unfortunate UEFA rules mean we can't play our home leg at our own ground, it's not big enough, but we're grateful to Cardiff City for letting us use their stadium.

"We're playing a club seasoned in Europe, who pushed Spurs hard in the not too distant past, so if we can come back from the away leg still in the tie that'd be great."

The winners of the tie, held over two legs, will go on to face either B36 Tórshavn of the Faroe Islands or Paide Linnameeskond of Estonia in the second qualifying round of the Uefa competition.