Motherwell start the new season on Thursday when HB Torshaven come to Fir Park for the first leg of the Uefa Conference League tie.
HJK Helsinki or Coleraine await the winner in the third qualifying
round.
The visitors are midway though their league campaign and lie fifth after
fifteen games. They are on a run of
three wins thanks to eleven goals but they lost a semi-final 0-4.
Arni Frederiksberg has scored half a dozen this season and is likely to be their main threat. Their squad lists one Moses Ebiye, a forward with forty appearances in claret and amber.
In contrast to the visitors this will be Motherwell’s first competitive
game and they may be at some disadvantage as far as match sharpness is
concerned.
A number of player movements, both in and out, will give new manager
Alfred Johansson some tricky decisions as he tries to find his best eleven. A troubling list of injuries was revealed earlier
this week to restrict his options.
The pre-season game with Genk ended with a spirited showing from the
younger players and maybe some may get the call on Thursday.
Oscar Priestman, Lukas Fadinger, Regan Charles-Cook and Ibrahim Said
performed well and if Eli Just remains in town his presence would be welcome.
The teams met in the Uefa Cup in 1994 when Motherwell were comfortable
winners. It is unlikely to be a repeat of
that easy victory and much will depend on the away leg after a narrow 1-0 win.
