As Nancy may not be big box office, but they are beatable. Motherwell avoided luminaries such as Valencia, Club Brugge, Sparta Prague and Manchester City to draw the French Ligue 1 side in the first round of the UEFA Cup yesterday.

AS NANCY may not be big box office, but they are beatable. Motherwell avoided luminaries such as Valencia, Club Brugge, Sparta Prague and Manchester City to draw the French Ligue 1 side in the first round of the UEFA Cup yesterday. Mark McGhee, the Fir Park manager, exuded a quiet confidence as he reflected on his side's first European tie in 13 years.

McGhee hopes they can survive the first leg at the Stade Marcel Picot on September 18 to set up a rousing home encounter at Fir Park two weeks later. "French grounds tend to have a great atmosphere so it will be a good place to play," said McGhee. "It will be a place where our boys will have to deal with a lot of things that they aren't used to. If we can come back with any sort of result then we will be asking the Motherwell punters to come along and build an atmosphere. We can't replicate what happens at Rangers or Celtic but we can have our own version here."

Motherwell's European participation is a result of their third-placed finish last season. They are still searching for their first win of this campaign, but are in decent form and have experienced campaigners - including Stephen Hughes and Stephen Craigan - who will be undaunted by playing in Europe. Of the potential opponents they could have faced, Nancy arguably represents the kindest draw.

They finished fourth in Ligue 1 last season, behind Marseille, Bordeaux and winners Lyon. The opponents have some European pedigree, after reaching the UEFA Cup group section in the 2006/07 season, but have had a poor start to this season and currently sit 17th with two points from three games.

"We're pleased," added McGhee. "Realistically, we would have little or no chance if we had played Valencia, but the other four teams we believed we could get past. To draw any of them was going to be fine. It's away from home first which I think is critical and will give us an advantage, so generally I'm pleased. I've already made some calls about them. I'll get a lot of DVDs. Scott Leitch the Motherwell assistant manager is going there tomorrow to watch them play, so by the time we play them we will know everything.

"They will think they should beat us, but hopefully we can give them a surprise. You can tell that the players are puffing their chests out a little bit and realise that they are there and will be playing alongside all these big names. That will have an effect and hopefully their confidence will be further boosted in the league."

Should Motherwell negotiate this tie then they will enter the group stage, where potential opponents could include AC Milan and Benfica. Aberdeen participated in the group stage last season where they were drawn with FC Copenhagen, Atletico Madrid, Lokomotiv Moscow and Panathinaikos. The Pittodrie side progressed from there to set up a glamour tie with Bayern Munich in the last-32, which they lost.

"Aberdeen got through to the last-32 without setting it on fire," said McGhee. "They beat Copenhagen and drew with Lokomotiv Moscow and suddenly they found themselves through. Everyone is of the same mind, that we want to get through to the group section and then maybe get an AC Milan or a Benfica. I'd take a section now that included all of those and Hamburg as well. You saw the importance of the UEFA Cup to Rangers and the fact that they got to the final.

"I think it is the secondary competition but with the way it is structured these days you can be sure that the final will be something like AC Milan against Benfica."