Defensive goings means a chance for Motherwell's Adam Cummins

Football Writer

Friday 10 August 2012

MOTHERWELL'S disappointment at their exit from the Champions League on Wednesday night was tempered by the knowledge that they at least now have a second bite of the cherry.

Motherwell's Adam Cummins, centre, gets the better of this clash with Stergos Marinos and Vitolo on Wednesday night. Picture: SNS

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Graeme Macpherson

At lunchtime today, the Fir Park club will discover their opponents in the play-off round of the Europa League, the competition they were striving to reach last season until Rangers' dramatic fall from grace handed them an unexpected upgrade.

Stuart McCall's players gave a decent account of themselves over two legs against Panathinaikos, despite the 5-0 aggregate scoreline suggesting otherwise, but the Europa League draw should, in theory, throw up a fairer fight. For now, Motherwell, as an unseeded side, can be drawn against one of 31 sides ranked in order of co-efficient points from Internazionale, Liverpool and Sporting Lisbon at the top down to Newcastle United, Partizan Belgrade and Levante towards the bottom. At some point this morning UEFA, using some sort of baffling procedure that makes cricket's Duckworth-Lewis method seem as straightforward as primary one mathematics, will divvy the clubs into around seven smaller sub-groups. Motherwell's potential opponents will be whittled down to five or six teams, and the draw will proceed shortly afterwards.It has left Adam Cummins feeling somewhat conflicted. The 19-year-old was a surprise inclusion in McCall's line-up for the second leg against Panathinaikos, making only his second competitive appearance as part of a three-man defence. A former Everton youth prospect, it is, however, with the red half of the city that Cummins' allegiances lie. Running out at Anfield, even as an opposition player, would be the realisation of a childhood dream but would likely weaken Motherwell's chances of progressing to the group phase. "If we got Liverpool it would be a dream come true to play at Anfield," he said. "When I wasn't playing for Everton, I would follow Liverpool home and away. But I would rather get a team we'd have a better chance of beating."A 3-0 defeat on his European debut could have been a chastening experience but Cummins relished playing in Athens' imposing Olympic Stadium. The team's brief stint in the Champions League, he hoped, could also serve them well going into the Europa League."I really enjoyed it. I think we showed over the two legs that we more than matched them. In the first leg we had our chances and although we would have liked to have created more in Athens, I think possession-wise we more than matched them. Maybe we just lacked a wee bit of a killer instinct."We've shown at home what we can do and even away from home, although we lost 3-0, the goals were a great free-kick, a counter-attack and a third goal when we were trying to chase the game. We've just got to push on as a team, whether it's us young lads who are playing or the more experienced players. We have to stand together and take on whatever team we get."The loss of Tim Clancy to Hibernian and Stephen Craigan's retirement has left Motherwell with a paucity of central defenders. Cummins hopes to make the most of that situation. "With the way things are going in Scottish football right now, I think it is a good time for young players like me at 18 or 19 years old. We are going to be given a chance at our club or elsewhere and I think that as a youngster we have to try to play first-team football. If you get your chance, you either sink or swim. "I've played in a few games now and think I have played quite well in them. Obviously, I still have a lot to learn, as I'm only 19, but as the time goes on I hope to get a few games and start to push on and become a regular."

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Defensive goings means a chance for Motherwell's Adam Cummins

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