Gallagher’s the fall guy in a Hapoel turnover
STEPHEN Robinson lamented Motherwell’s naive defending in an otherwise strong performance as their bid for the Europa League group stage came to a crashing halt in Israel.
In these dark days, the £2.5million bounty for progressing from the play-off round would have been priceless for the Steelmen.
But Miguel Vitor’s goal and a penalty from Josue — after visiting captain Declan Gallagher was ordered off — were supplemented by a late third from Elton Acolatse.
Robinson insisted the final scoreline didn’t reflect on the overall display and he viewed defeat against a side ‘in a different financial hemisphere’ as largely self-inflicted.
‘We’re thinking it’s a missed opportunity,’ he said. ‘There’s a tinge of disappointment because it wasn’t like we got played off the pitch.
‘Sometimes — like when you face the Old Firm — you hold your hands up and say they were better but that wasn’t the case. We got punished for a couple of bits of quality and slipping up at set-pieces.
‘We did ever so well at times but to concede at set-plays at this level was disappointing.
‘Declan gave away a free-kick (and was booked) just before the penalty and sometimes you need to be a bit wise.
‘Any time you put your hands on someone in Europe, then people go down.
‘We were a bit naive but overall I was pleased with the young lads and there are lessons to learn.
‘We’re in a different hemisphere from these teams financially and we more than matched them for periods.’
There were very few chances in the early stages, with the hosts singling out Tony Watt for some rough treatment.
Marwan Kabha was first into the book for a wild sliding lunge on the former Celtic striker.
Allan Campbell then saw a claim for a penalty turned down after his cross struck the arm of Sean Goldberg.
Motherwell came closest to scoring after good play down the right by Watt saw his cross find Chris Long.
The striker dispatched a slightly deflected shot on target that required a vital save from Ohad Levita.
Acolatse torched his way down the left flank, leaving Stephen O’Donnell in his wake, before firing in a shot that was turned behind by Trevor Carson.
Mariano Bareiro headed the resulting corner well wide.
Two minutes before halftime, Hapoel made the allimportant breakthrough when Vitor crashed home a header.
The first half ended in acrimony when Watt could not stop himself barging into Loai Taha after he had passed the ball. The defender sought retribution by kicking out at Watt off the ball.
Bizarrely, both were shown a yellow card.
Robinson said: ‘The boy chased Tony and kicked him, and these small things can be the difference. But I don’t think the officials saw it.’
After the break, Gallagher had a great chance to equalise from Liam Grimshaw’s freekick but ballooned his effort over the bar.
Gallagher’s night would get worse. First, O’Donnell and Jonathan Agudelo were booked after another outbreak of aggro before Mariano Bareiro was cautioned for clattering Polworth.
Moments after Gallagher was booked for fouling Acolatse, he grappled in the box with Vitor who needed no encouragement to fall to the deck.
Penalty given and keeper Carson — spot-kick hero in the last round against Coleraine — dived to his right as Josue fired the ball low into the other corner.
Acolatse rounded off the scoring eight minutes from time by firing in a low finish.
HAPOEL BE’ER SHEVA (4-3-3): Levita; Dadia, Vitor, Taha, Goldberg; Bareiro, Josue, Kabha; Sallalich (Meli 86), Agudelo (Varenne 59), Acolatse (Yosefi 86). Subs not used: Tzedek, Shabiro, Rahamim, Hatuel. Booked: Kabha, Taha, Dadia, Agudelo, Bareiro. MOTHERWELL (4-4-2): Carson; O’Donnell, Gallagher, Lamie, Grimshaw; McGinley, Campbell, O’Hara, Polworth (Maguire 86); Long (Lang 72), Watt (White 75). Subs not used: Cornelius, Morrison, Hastie, Seedorf. Booked: Watt, O’Donnell, Gallagher. Sent off: Gallagher. Man of the match: Elton Acolatse. Referee: Serhiy Boiko (Ukraine).