Gannon pleased with progress

Motherwell boss Jim Gannon is confident his side can overturn the first leg deficit against Europa League opponents Flamurtari on Thursday night.

The Steelmen suffered a 1-0 defeat in Albania last week and must win at the Excelsior Stadium to remain in the competition.

Gannon has studied the video from Vlore and devised a tactical plan to break down the visitors.

And he believes his players have what it takes to make it through to the third qualifying round.

“I’m really pleased with what we have been able to achieve this week,” said the Motherwell boss.

“I think as we showed in the last round against Llanelli there was a massive difference in our approach and the way we played from one game to the other.

“We went a little bit into the unknown last week. Now we know all about them, we have got the video analysed, we have prepared ourselves really well and I am expecting a vast improvement.

“They set out in a certain way and it worked really well for them and we have to be mindful of that but the onus is on us to go and get the goals to win the game.

“The expectation will be upon us winning but Flamurtari will have something to say about that. They will feel they have something to hold on to, they will feel they have the advantage tactically in terms of having the goal and the ability that if they score the away goal it will be extremely difficult for us.

“We will be slight favourites to win but we need to win by a margin that gets us through.”

The first leg in Vlore was a controversial affair. John Sutton looked to have scored from the penalty spot in the 56th minute after he was fouled by Bledion Guga.

But Austrian referee Fritz Stuchlik ordered a re-take after a home player encroached and the striker's second attempt was saved.

Ermir Strati then put the Albanians in front in when his 20-yard strike beat Michael Fraser and went in off the post.

“We might be mindful of that if we don’t go through but that tie is gone,” said Gannon. “The result was 1-0 and we go into this game knowing that if we do things well and put the goals in then we will go through and we forget the first leg.

“I don’t think it was bad luck, it was poor refereeing, poor execution of a set play and good play by the goalkeeper.

“We are not going to reflect on that tie. Tactically we have a massive challenge ahead of us on how we go about getting the goal and getting ourselves in position to win the game.”

New-boys Steve Jennings and Chris Humphrey are in line to make their debuts at the Excelsior Stadium.

“Steve had a slight rib problem from last week’s training but he has got a good 10-12 days under his belt,” added Gannon.

“Chris is in fantastic shape and comes into my thoughts because we are going to need all the attacking options across the midfield and front line.

“But it’s not going to be just about the 11 who start – all 14 players are going to play a big part in this tactical challenge.”