Stephen Robinson feels his side may have missed an opportunity in Israel – but the Motherwell manager is still proud of his players after a tough European lesson.
The Steelmen were eliminated from the Europa League at the third qualifying round on Thursday night against Hapoel Be’er Sheva. They lost 3-0, finding themselves 1-0 down before the break despite arguably being the better side in the first half.
A red card for Well captain Declan Gallagher and successful penalty from Josue made it 2-0, putting the game beyond the Steelmen with 20 minutes to go before Elton Acolatse made it three six minutes from time. It’s disappointing for Motherwell as they more than matched their opponents.
Robinson feels the Israeli side were there for the taking, although his men should still be proud, as they had no right to be matching a side like Be’er Sheva in the first place.
“The players are sitting there thinking this is a missed opportunity,” said the Motherwell manager. “The level of finances, and the level of league that these boys have came from, it was a bit of an unknown.
“You weren’t sure of their exact quality until you’re up against them, but after 30 minutes we thought ‘we’ve got a right chance here.’ At 1-0 down we were pressing really high up the pitch in the second half, we caused them real problems, so there is a tinge of disappointment, because it wasn’t like we were played off the park.
“Sometimes when when you play against Celtic and Rangers you hold your hands up and say they were better than us, but on the evening, I didn’t think they were for large parts. I thought the young players in large parts of the performance were excellent, but we got punished for that little bit of quality – two deliveries and two bits of naive defending.
“There is a little bit of regret in there, but we’ve learned how to play the game, how to play referees. It’s a learning curve. There’s no easy games. Our boys are so honest at times, they don’t go down. They stand up and take hits.
“There’s a little bit of naivety in our defending in the first half but when you play against the quality they had, you get punished.”