In their final game before the Scottish Premiership kicks off next Saturday with the visit of Rangers, the new-look Motherwell side had a serious workout against German giants Hertha Berlin before settling for a deserved draw.
The Fir Park men matched the Bundesliga 2 side in most areas.
And after conceding an early penalty converted by Fabian Leese, the Steelmen showed great determination and composure before Apostolos Stamatelopoulos forced home an equaliser eight minutes from time.
Jens Berthel Askou, still looking for a settled eleven, kept the same line-up, which had an impressive win over Morton on Tuesday. The only change was the return of Aston Oxborough, fit enough for a place on the four-man bench.
The early kick off on a sunny summer’s evening encouraged both teams to retain possession and keep the ball on the perfect Fir Park pitch.
Unfortunately for the home side, they only kept their cool until the ninth minute, when another defensive lapse gave the Germans the lead. Liam Gordon was short with his passback, and as Calum Ward rushed to clear the ball, he clattered into Jon Thorsteinsson and conceded a stone-wall penalty.
Hertha’s captain, Reese, then calmly sent Ward the wrong way from the spot to give his side the lead.
That didn’t unsettle the Steelmen as they continued with a patient build, probing for a gap in the visitor’s defence, but the central pairing of Deyovaisio Zeefuik and Toni Leistner kept their keeper protected.
In truth neither keeper was involved in the first 30 minutes, but gradually the Germans stepped up the pace and forced a couple of stops from Ward.
Four minutes from the interval, Reese gave the goalkeeper a comfortable save with a shot from the edge of the box.
On the stroke of half-time, though, Ward reacted superbly to dive across to his left and push Zeefuik’s downward header round his left-hand post.
The Germans still looked more likely to score at the start of the second half as they buzzed about Ward’s penalty area.
The Well keeper’s impressive performance ended on the hour mark when Oxborough was given 30 minutes to improve his match fitness.
Two minutes later Emmanuel Longelo’s measured low pass had Apostolos Stamatelopoulos haring towards the box until Leistner’s powerful sliding tackle brought the Australian’s threat to an end.
That prompted a bit more activity around Tjark Ernst’s goal before Andy Halliday and Ibrahim Said were given the final 20 minutes to make an impact on the game.
Almost immediately Tawanda Maswanhise’s low cross had the Hertha keeper scrambling across his six-yard box to prevent Stamatelopoulos from reaching the ball.
As the action moved from end to end, Thorsteinsson’s powerful drive from 20 yards gave Oxborough his first save.
After 76 minutes, a bit of keepy-up between Said and Calum Slattery at the edge of the box, Lukas Fadinger stabbed a shot towards goal, forcing a first save from Ernst.
‘Well, maintain the pressure on the visitor’s goal, and it paid off in the 82nd minute.
Slattery carried the ball into the box on the right before firing into the six-yard box, where Stamatelopoulos squeezed it past Ernst for his second goal of the week.
The game appeared anything but friendly as both sides chased a winner in the final five minutes.
However, after a competitive and entertaining match, both teams had to be content with the appreciation of both sets of fans at the final whistle.
Motherwell Team: Ward (60′), Koutroumbis (78′), Gordon, McGinn, Longelo, Fadinger, Slattery, Watt (70′), Maswanhise, Just (70′), Stamatelopoulos.
Motherwell Subs: Oxborough (60′), O’Donnell (78′), Halliday (70′), Said (70′).
