'Well midfielder Lasley relishes Europa League tie

Jul 8 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

MOTHERWELL midfielder Keith Lasley this week warned that Europa League opponents Breidablik will consider themselves favourites to win next week’s Fir Park clash.

The Icelandic cup champions visit North Lanarkshire for their second qualifying round first leg clash next Thursday and while Keith insists the Steelmen won’t underestimate Breidablik, they will be ready for them.

Lasley, who along with John Sutton and Ross Forbes scored in a 3-1 friendly win at Brechin City on Tuesday, said: “Breidablik will be half-way through their season and I think that definitely helps, in terms of their fitness and match sharpness, and they’ll certainly want to use that to their advantage.

“But by the same token we just need to be as prepared as we can be, use the friendlies that we’ve got and be ready for that first game at Fir Park.

“We know they’re going to come here knowing that we haven’t started our season, and they’ll probably fancy their chances.

“Losing the first game would make it difficult for us, and we found out against Llanelli last season that these things can happen, so we’ve got to focus on ourselves and hopefully if we can put the right performance in we can win the match. If we don’t, we know what can happen.

“We won’t underestimate Breidablik but it’s about what we do and that’s what we’ll be focused on.”

Lasley is delighted to be back on the European stage and admitted it’s what football is all about.

He said: “We’re looking forward to the European game.

“It’s good to be involved in a game like that, and for a club like Motherwell to be playing on the European stage again is great.

“To be involved in a game like that is what you play at this level for.

“We got a wee taste of that last year and hopefully that will help us.

“It will definitely give us a bit of experience of playing at this time, in such a competitive game at this stage of our season, so hopefully that will stand us in good stead and we can use that to our advantage.”

Motherwell are at Forfar this evening (Thursday, 7.30pm), before taking part in Ayr’s Centenary game at Somerset Park on Saturday (3pm).

Thursday’s Europa League second qualifying round first leg clash kicks-off at 7.45pm.