MOTHERWELL defender Liam Grimshaw says he and his team-mates were disappointed after crashing out of the Europa League courtesy of a 3-0 defeat to Hapoel Be’er Sheva but vowed to use that pain to spur them on against Rangers tomorrow.
The Steelmen started the game well and gave their Israeli opponents a tricky game but were undone by a couple of set-pieces and a red card to centre-half Declan Gallagher.
Manager Stephen Robinson was left ruing his side’s naivety in the aftermath of the defeat, with Grimshaw admitting that his side lacked the street smarts that come as second nature to teams that play regularly on the continental stage.
He said: “That’s European football in general, isn’t it? There’s a lot more diving about and referees are quick to give fouls.
“To be honest, I think they were lucky not to have anyone sent off after a few incidents but you know what can happen playing in Europe and you just have to deal with stuff like that.
“We’re obviously disappointed. For large periods we more than matched them and if we had got a goal in the first half when we had decent spells of pressure then that would have changed the complexion of the game. When they scored, that put us on the back foot and we got picked off really.”
Despite the defeat, Grimshaw reckons he’s learned a lot from his side’s European run this season – and hopes that come the end of the campaign, Motherwell will have another European adventure to embark on.
“It’s what you want to strive for,” he said. “Being realistic, third or fourth is probably what we’re aiming for in the league.
“I’ve been here a while now and it’s been an honour to represent the club and the town in Europe, we’re just gutted we couldn’t take it a bit further.
“I’ve learned a lot. It’s been a good experience for everyone, playing the two Irish teams and then playing in a totally different country on Thursday. We have learned a lot, it’s just disappointing that we haven’t progressed.”
A win tomorrow would go a long way to realising Grimshaw’s European ambitions. Rangers will be coming to town – fresh off the back of a 4-0 win over Willem II on Thursday night – having won six of their opening eight Premiership games, keeping clean sheets in all but one of them.
It’s been an encouraging start to the new campaign for the Ibrox club, Grimshaw says, but he still backs his side to exploit any holes they can find in Steven Gerrard’s team.
“Rangers are a good team,” he said. “They’ve got a lot more money than the rest of the league. They’ve had a really good start but some people would argue that’s what they should be doing. We’ll go and give It our best against them and hopefully we can get something against them.
“Every team has got their weaknesses. Rangers are a good team but we’ll try our best to find some weaknesses and try and exploit them.
“It’s always tough against Rangers but they’re the sort of games you want to play in. Thursday night didn’t go well for us but there’s no reason we can’t give them a game on Sunday.”
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