Soccer:Shamrock Rovers striker Karl Sheppard says the team are determined to get at least one point on the board from their remaining Europa League Group A fixtures. Rovers play Rubin Kazan in sub-zero conditions in Russia tomorrow before finishing their continental campaign by hosting Spurs on December 15th.

Sheppard admits Rovers will have a tough task on their hands to halt their run of four straight defeats in the competition, but believes the way the side have played so far has offered plenty of encouraging signs.

“We have done well in a lot of the games but we still have no points and that hurts,” Sheppard said. “We want to get something out of the group and if that means just one point, then we’ll work towards that. It will help regarding the seeding for next season.”

Rovers have not played a competitive game since their previous Europa League outing on November 3rd, a 3-1 home defeat to Greece’s PAOK Salonika, whereas Rubin’s last match was a Russian league fixture on Saturday.

The Hoops did, however, travel to Sweden last week to face Malmo in a friendly and manager Michael O’Neill is confident his players are ready for tomorrow.

“There are many factors that will make this difficult for us: the travel, climate and quality of Kazan,” O’Neill said. “This will be as difficult a game — if not the most difficult — as we have faced in the Europa League so far.

“But the players have been excellent since we came back together. The Malmo game was a bonus and was very good for us. The team is in good shape despite not having played competitively for four weeks.”

Rovers will be without injured duo Craig Sives (groin) and Conor McCormack (calf).