Motherwell step into unknown as HB Euro test looms

When Motherwell fans descend on Fir Park this Thursday, they will be taking a step into the unknown. Last season delivered football most had never seen from their team before. Jens Berthel Askou's ML1 Globetrotters wowed swelled crowds on a way to a fourth-placed finish in the Scottish Premiership, a collective inspired by the likes of Tawanda Maswanhise, Eli Just, Elliot Watt and Lukas Fadinger. It was the game as it was meant to be played. But those swarming to fill the home ends as HB Torshavn provide the opposition in a Conference League second-round qualifier will do so with a hint of trepidation and unease. Who has your Premiership club brought in & let go this summer? Motherwell sign 'attack-minded defender' Williams European opportunity opening up for Motherwell? Askou has departed for Toulouse and in his place is former Rosenborg head coach Alfred Johansson, who will take charge of his first competitive game as Motherwell manager on Thursday. There will be no Watt to act as quarterback in this midfield after his departure for Samsunspor in Turkey's top flight. No Just either after the attacking midfielder's heroic display at the World Cup, with the New Zealander bound for Swansea City . And it looks like no Maswanhise, who remains injured. The forward is also joined on the sidelines by a sizable list of players that has included captain Paul McGinn, Stephen O'Donnell, Jordan McGhee and Emmanuel Longelo, to name just some of them. For such a huge match, it is not what the Motherwell fans who packed a jubilant away end at Easter Road on the final day last season would have been hoping for. Yet there is optimism to back the 1/7 odds being placed on their team. In a narrow defeat by Genk last week in a friendly, the game was closed out with a youthful Motherwell team that sparked dynamism and energy. It may be that some of them are called upon to step up on Thursday. Johansson said: "We assess that day-to-day, right now, and today we'll have the last assessments, and then we will release the squad. "I think they've shown the quality during the pre-season, both in training and games. "And I don't want to obviously come across as naive where you put too much responsibility too early on too many." The uncertainty has done little to put off Motherwell fans for this one against the Faroe Islands side. The three home stands at Fir Park are heading for a sell out, with the potential for more to spew into the empty away stand. A date with either Coleraine or HJK Helsinki is the prize on offer in the next round, but with so many unknowns to this Well team, supporters will be reluctant to think that far ahead. "A committed team, intense, that are really brave to play out from the back and really offensive minded," Johansson said when asked what fans can expect. "Hopefully, you'll see a lot of deep runs. Hopefully, you'll see players that are brave between lines to turn and go forward. "I experienced Fir Park with 3,000 people in a friendly. To come here tomorrow with close to full stadium, if not full, I just can't wait to see that and feel that atmosphere. "It's going to be a great experience, I'm pretty sure, after what I felt against Genk. I'm just really looking forward to experiencing that myself." Who are HB Torshavn? Havnar Boltfelag Torshavn, to give them their full name, currently sit fifth in the Effodeildin table 16 games into the 2026 season, having been runners-up last year, but have not played a competitive game since 5 July. Motherwell will be hoping they will have lost much of the match sharpness that carried them into their summer break with three wins in their last four games. That hints at an improvement under Lukasz Cieslewicz, who was promoted from reserve team manager to caretaker after the dismissal of Andre Olsen on 20 June. The 24-time Faroes champions will be without ex-Well forward Moses Ebiye, who was not granted a visa in time along with Senegalese midfielder Amidou Diop. It leaves a squad with only eight players who have experienced domestic football outside the Faroes, although six have played for their country, including former Sligo Rovers midfielder Stefan Radosavljevic. Interestingly, this will be the second European meeting between the clubs after their Uefa Cup preliminary round tie back in 1994. Motherwell won 7-1 over two legs to set up a meeting with Borussia Dortmund. HB have only won three of their 37 European ties, their latest being a 6-0 Conference League qualifying win over Buducnost Podgorica of Montenegro in 2021.