The Steelmen rounded off their week-long training camp in Denmark with a friendly match against Danish champions AGF Aarhus.
The Danes came away with a 4-0 victory. Alfred Johansson named a strong starting 11 for the match but used his bench in the second-half to ensure all players got minutes in the legs.
It didn’t take long for the hosts to show their quality. After three minutes, Mikael Anderson finished past Matty Connelly following a quick counter-attack.
Kristian Arnstad then blazed over four minutes later, before Matty Connelly was forced into a good save to deny Magnus Knudsen from the edge of the box on the volley.
The chances kept coming for Aarhus. At 16 minutes, Anderson came close to a second when Jordan McGhee’s headed clearance fell to him, but he couldn’t direct the shot on target.
Motherwell’s first chance came just after the 20-minute mark. Some good work up the right-hand side led to Tom Sparrow delivering a high cross into the penalty area. McGhee leapt highest, but the defender’s header went wide.
Frederik Emmery continued to look like the biggest threat on the Aarhus side, and he came close to scoring midway through the half but couldn’t beat the post.
Mads Hedenstad, the Aarhus goalkeeper, made his first save just before the interval. Sparrow laid the ball off to Elliot Watt, who curled a strike towards goal, but the keeper managed to get a fingertip onto the ball to take it over the bar.
Half time allowed Johansson to make changes. Mikey Booth came on midway through the first half due to Apostolos Stamatelopoulos coming off. Olly Whyte came on during the break for Lukas Fadinger.
Aarhus continued to press high up the pitch, forcing the Motherwell defenders into mistakes. O’Donnell was tackled on 54 minutes, but the Aarhus forward couldn’t find the bottom corner, having driven through on goal.
Two minutes later, however, it was two. Watt’s pass was intercepted by Jacob Anderson, who flew past McGhee before finishing into the net.
As we hit the hour mark, there were a raft of Motherwell subs, which left just Oscar Priestman as the only non-Motherwell FC Academy player on the pitch. Now with a young side on the pitch, Aarhus controlled the ball for large spells.
Sebastian Jørgensen was denied by Connelly, who remained busy between the sticks for the rest of the game. But five minutes later, Connelly couldn’t prevent Jørgensen from getting on the scoresheet. Connelly’s pass out was pressed by Aarhus; Jørgensen had time to pick his spot and make it 3-0.
The young Steelmen continued to fight and work despite the scoreline. Preventing Aarhus from any further chances, they did concede right before full time when Jørgensen’s left-footed free kick found its way past Connelly to round off the action.
Motherwell Team: Connelly, Sparrow, O’Donnell, McGhee, Koutroumbis, Fadinger, Watt, Priestman, Ross, Charles-Cook, Stamatelopoulos.
