Motherwell make winning start under Alfred Johansson

Alfred Johansson’s new Motherwell era began with an encouraging 2-0 Conference League qualifying win over HB Torshavn at Fir Park.

Debutant Martin Moormann lit up the first leg of the second qualifier in the 15th minute when he thundered in an unstoppable shot from 25 yards.

There was lots to like about some of the Steelmen’s play and they doubled their lead in the 57th minute through another terrific strike, this time from midfielder Lukas Fadinger.

The two-goal lead, while not gold-plated, should be enough to see Well through the second leg in the Faroe Islands next week which will book a third-round clash – almost certainly against HJK Helsinki, 5-0 winners over Coleraine in Finland on Thursday.

It was a new-look and young Well side, necessitated in part by the fact they were missing a host of regulars from last season including Tawanda Maswanhise, Paul McGinn, Stephen O’Donnell, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Callum Hendry through injury while there were some high-profile exits from the club including Elliot Watt and Elijah Just.

In his first competitive game as Motherwell boss, Johansson, successor to Jens Berthel Askou, gave competitive debuts to all five summer signings – goalkeeper Alex Paulsen, who joined on loan from Bournemouth, Jake Girdwood-Reich, Moormann, Dylan Williams and Willy Vogt.

There was also a debut for 19-year-old academy graduate Mikey Booth.

The visitors were soon under pressure with keeper Bjarti Mork making a save from a Moormann header but there was no stopping the Austrian centre-back’s drive when he picked up the ball outside the HB box and arrowed a shot high into the net.

The Faroe Islanders began to venture forward more often as the first half wore on and for the first time there was a hint of nerves among the claret and amber jerseys.

In the 35th minute, with the home team reasserting themselves, an inviting cross from Tom Sparrow found Ibrahim Said unmarked at the back post but he crashed his header off the bar and the danger was cleared with the Well striker having a shot on the turn before the break that sped wide.

Motherwell pressed from the start of the second half and after some huffing and puffing, when Williams’ cross was cleared to the edge of the box, the ball eventually arrived at Fadinger and he confidently guided it into the top corner from 20 yards, via the underside of the crossbar.

It looked like the home side had taken a firm grip of the game but there was a scare five minutes later when HB worked their way into the Motherwell penalty area and Jakup Thomsen’s shot from 16 yards passed Paulsen’s far post by inches.

Motherwell should have made it 3-0 in the 67th minute when they had an overload of players in the box after Sparrow drove forward but Vogt shot against Mork’s foot.

Paulsen beat away decent shots from Asi Dam and substitute Heini Sorensen as the visitors tried to claw their way back into the game but Motherwell held firm and will be confident of finishing the job next week.