Owen Coyle admitted he was relishing a return to former club St Johnstone tonight (Wednesday).

The Clarets boss and his assistant Sandy Stewart are in line for an emotional reunion with the Scottish club they left last October to take up a new challenge at Turf Moor.

And as Burnley look to end their tour of Coyle's homeland with another impressive performance, the ex-Saints manager insisted he was looking forward to a night of nostalgia.

Coyle said: "You always like going back to clubs you have been at before and the fact Sandy and I spent so many good times there means we will look forward to it.

"It's a lovely club with a lovely set-up, a beautiful all-seater stadium and a brilliant pitch.

"Obviously a lot of our players are still there and it will be good to see them and equally (manager) Derek McInnes, who was manager of the youth team when we were there.

"There are a lot of tie-ups, but that wasn't the reason for playing the game.

Coyle in his former guise as St Johnstone boss

"The reason for playing the game was because we knew it would be a good test from a side who will probably be the favourites for the division.

"They got to the semi-final of the Scottish FA Cup last season, they have a fantastic pedigree and some very talented players that we worked with, and Derek's added to that and brought some quality players in to enhance what they already had.

"There are people there that we had a good relationship with and a good rapport with, but equally we are there in our capacity at Burnley, wanting to do the good things and keep building on what we are doing."

Coyle has taken his team to Scotland for five days as they step up their preparations for the season.

And following the equally rewarding tour of America, he is delighted with the progress being made north of the border, which has seen Burnley draw 1-1 with Queen of the South and beat Partick Thistle 1-0.

Joey Gudjonsson's goal beats Partick Thistle

He said: "As part of the pre-season build-up it's first class.

"We trained for six or seven days then went to America for eight and worked hard there.

"We came back and trained on the Friday after a long journey then travelled up to Scotland on Saturday, so we've asked an awful lot of them but they've responded to everything we've done.

"What we want to do now is step it up after the St Johnstone game and make things slicker.

"It's been good that we have looked strong in all the games in Scotland, for the most part this will be another difficult game, but I think once we have seen it off we can start stepping things up and getting sharper in training."

Coyle, who has not given up hope of adding to his squad before the season starts in just over two weeks' time, added: "

"Winning is important, but we have tried to give everyone a run-out.

"We are quite meticulous in knowing exactly how many minutes everyone has played, but I've said before, particularly in terms of the team we see starting, that it's important that players have at least five or six 90 minutes under their belt.

"I think we will start formulating that after tonight and certainly from Saturday onwards you will probably find that we will start taking a little bit more care and be more selective in terms of who plays.

"There are a lot of players though who have given me food for thought. And regardless of who you bring in, I have said to them all it's a level playing field and the person playing the best will keep the jersey.

"The bottom line is it's up to every single one of them.

"There is competition right throughout the side and we don't want any 'gimmes'. We want them knowing they have to be at their best to play again the next week."

We will have a full match report on St Johnstone v Burnley at the final whistle tonight, with Owen Coyle's reaction soon afterwards.

Clarets World subscribers can also see Coyle's thoughts on the trip tomorrow.