SUCH a familiar scene unfolded at Fir Park last night that it was almost hard to believe this was Motherwell's Champions League debut.

All the usual ingredients were there; a plucky home performance against technically superior opposition, chances created and missed, rising optimism, and then hopes cruelly dashed with a late away goal on the counter attack.

This was another typical hard-luck story for a Scottish side in Europe and there will likely be more to come before the autumn is out. Stuart McCall's pre-match wish was that his team could keep the tie alive ahead of the second leg in Athens next Wednesday but a goal conceded in either half means only the most optimistic of Motherwell fans will consider this mission accomplished.

Instead it seems more likely that it will be Panathinaikos who progress to the play-off round of the Champions League, with Motherwell having to settle for a shot at reaching the group stage of the Europa League. There was a fear that the Lanarkshire club, competing in this competition for the first time against such storied opposition, would be overawed by the occasion, but it never came to pass. McCall had set them up in their usual 4-4-2 formation, with Henrik Ojamaa playing just off Michael Higdon, and they attacked with almost indecent regularity, pushing the Greek side on to the back foot.

The home side created eight or nine decent opportunities throughout the game but failed to take any of them.

The Greeks, while similarly profligate at times, took their chances when it mattered.

If this was to be their only chance to taste Champions League football at home, then the Motherwell supporters didn't let it pass them by. McCall and his players had pleaded for them to turn out in vast numbers and they duly responded, filling three stands and occupying a good chunk of the South Stand behind one goal, the attendance coming in at 9035.

The atmosphere was hardly likely to intimidate the Greeks – their friendly games are probably more hostile – but it must have lifted the spirits of the Motherwell side to walk down the tunnel and witness such a hearty welcome.

"Champions League, we're having a laugh," sang the home support midway through the second half, their team still trailing by a goal at that point. This was a night for enjoying the occasion as much as fretting over the scoreline, although there will still be regrets about how it turned out.

Panathinaikos had the luxury of being able to sit deeper and play on the counter attack after securing an early away goal. They had buzzed around diligently in the opening stages – Ibrahim Sissoko, in particular, was a persistent threat – but the home side had dealt comfortably with the threat.

To then allow the Greeks to take the lead with such an incredibly soft goal must have felt as wounding as the realisation of what a strike would likely mean for Motherwell's Champions League aspirations. Shaun Hutchinson dumped Sissoko on his backside around 25 yards out and Lazaros Christodoulopoulos –a man who must hate being asked how to spell his name – swung in the resultant free kick.

It looked more like a cross than a shot, but despite Jean-Alain Boumsong's half-hearted claim he got a touch on it, the ball evaded everyone and bounced past Darren Randolph and into the far corner of the net. Only 13 minutes had gone and Motherwell were up against it.

The Fir Park crowd temporarily sagged, perhaps in anticipation of what might follow, but quickly recovered as Motherwell responded doggedly to the set-back, creating a raft of makeable chances.

Jamie Murphy swung in a cross that was only just too deep for Chris Humphrey; Keith Lasley made space to fizz in a shot that just cleared the crossbar, before Higdon's header was comfortably saved by Orestis Karnezis in the Panathinaikos goal.

The Greeks soaked up all the pressure before replying with some counters of their own. Christodoulopoulos rattled the advertising hoardings with a shot that whistled just narrowly wide; Toche, the Spanish striker, finished weakly from a good position, before Zeca thundered in a tremendous shot that Randolph acrobatically tipped over the top.

Anyone expecting a cagey, slow-paced first leg between two sides making their first competitive appearance of the season would have been very wrong indeed. The only real surprise was that between them both sides had only conjured up the one goal by this point.

Panathinaikos, perhaps sensing a chance to kill the tie off, were no less adventurous in the second half, by this point shooting towards their small cluster of supporters – all 197 of them – huddled together in one corner. The increasingly dangerous Christodoulopoulos shot just wide 30 seconds after the re-start but Motherwell again responded. Karnezis had to scramble along his line to keep out Tom Hateley's free kick, and was then almost embarrassed by Nicky Law's long-range shot that he gobbled up only at the second attempt. When Higdon then headed Hateley's cross straight into the goalkeeper's arms the feeling grew that perhaps this wasn't going to be Motherwell's night. And so it proved.

Charis Mavrias had barely been on the pitch a minute when Sissoko picked him out with a wonderful searching pass and the substitute, a Greek under-19 international, took one touch to control it before finishing adroitly past Randolph.

Motherwell, and their fans, knew they were finally sunk.