Mark O’Hara says ‘underdog’ status suits Motherwell just fine in their Europa League tie on Thursday, and the pressure is on opponents Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
Stephen Robinson’s men travel to Israel this week, hoping to negotiate their way into a play-off tie against either Czech side Viktoria Plzen or Danes SoderjyskE.
Midfielder O’Hara expects their hosts to be favourites to progress, but says that might give the Steelmen an advantage.
And he pointed out that Aberdeen were favourites to win at Pittodrie on Sunday, before Motherwell raced into a 3-0 lead inside 23 minutes.
He said: “This is the first time we’re probably seen as underdogs, in the last couple of Europa League games we’ve been probably the favourites and it has been frustrating more than anything.
“Teams have sat in and frustrated us, but we’ll be the underdogs going over there and I think that might suit us in a way.
“Very much like Sunday, we went to Aberdeen probably as underdogs, and we just quietly went about our business.
“We will be very cautious with them going forward, so we will need a really well drilled, well disciplined performance.
“This is a bigger step up than what we’ve been playing in the last couple of rounds – no disrespect to the other teams – and it’s a big challenge, but I feel it suits us, going to play in those kind of games.
“The pressure is on the other team, that means we are just going to be able to go and pay our own game.
“People might write us off, going over there, and not really expecting anything from us, so we can go over there, stick to our game-plan and try to prove people wrong.”
While Motherwell are quietly confident that they can progress in the competition, O’Hara insists nobody has looked any further than the Israeli State Cup winners.
“We have a couple of big games ahead of us, so we’ll take it one game at a time just now,” said O’Hara, “but it’s nice to dream and hopefully we will get it done.
“We spoke about it the other day and to qualify for the next round would be right up there.
“Every player wants to be involved on a European stage, and if we can get to that play-off stage, personally it would be a massive achievement, and as a club it would be a massive achievement.
“It’s a big attraction to get there, but we won’t get too far ahead of ourselves. We’ll focus on the game on Thursday.”
O’Hara was pleased with the 3-0 win against Aberdeen, who were close rivals for much of last season, and says it was simply a case of keeping the faith.
That will give Motherwell a major boost ahead of their test in searing heat on Thursday, and O’Hara hopes for a positive result.
He said: “It was massive to get the win. It felt like everything had come together. We’ve both had good performances and a few results, but on Sunday it felt like something was really coming together, so long may that continue.
“We’ve trusted each other that it would come good, and I think we’ve stuck to our principles. The manager said on Sunday that we never lost faith, I think that showed, and that’s what it was all about on Sunday.
“We’re delighted with that comfortable win, but winning in that kind of manner sometimes gives you a lift as well.”
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