Motherwell’s hardy band of fans who travelled to Holland with the Premiership club for their pre-season camp got off to a colourful start.
Pyro and smoke bombs greeted Stuart Kettlewell’s side as they took to the field to play a friendly against HSC Haaksbergen at the Sportpark de Wildbaan on Tuesday, with Motherwell fans mingling with friends from NEC Nijmegen, which whom they have an affinity.
Kettlewell’s side ran out 1-0 winners, with Beith striker Josh Fowler getting a run out as a second-half trialist as almost the entire line-up was changed at the interval, save for defender Bevis Mugabi and winger Lennon Miller.
A strong starting XI saw the Steelmen take the lead on the stroke of half-time, when Miller’s pass released Joe Efford, and his drilled cross was put through his own net by defender Mika Schrijver.
Motherwell now move on to play against SV Longa’30 on Friday as they close out their stay at Delden.
Following the win over Haaksbergen, boss Stuart Kettlewell told the club’s website: “It was a really good exercise for us.
“I think that first game is so important, in terms of coming out of it without injuries, which we have done.
“We pitched it to the players that they would play 45 minutes each; there were one or two who played a few more minutes, just with the balance of the squad and the numbers that we’ve currently got.
“But in terms of an exercise it was very good – the trip to this point has been excellent for us, with the work that we’ve done.
“It has been hard for the players in the heat, and the content of the sessions have been difficult as well, and this was just to cap off the first block of the trip.”
Kettlewell has been impressed with the facilities at Delden and reckons the trip overall has been worthwhile.
He said: “We knew we were coming to a really good facility and that we’d get a couple of games in there as well, so everything so far has worked according to plan.
“How do you get fit for playing football,, it’s playing football, isn’t it?
“That’s the wee bit that the players have been starved of in this first 10 days of pre-season that we’ve had.
“They’ve worked exceptionally hard but I think you can see that enthusiasm when the ball is out there, they’ve got their strip on and they’re ready to play.
“The application has been first class so far, I can’t complain from that point of view, and a big factor at this stage of the season is to make sure we come out without injuries.
“The plus-side as well is that we have one or two guys in there who might be available for Friday in the next game that we have as well.”
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