Ojamaa is keen to get back among the goals

The Fir Park men’s dispiriting performance in the 2-0 defeat at home to the Spaniards has left them to ponder what took them into Europe rather than what they might do in their one remaining encounter there.

The Estonian internationalist is also aware that, after five games without a goal in this campaign, he has to prove that he is no half-season wonder.

The 21-year-old scored nine times after joining the Lanarkshire club on a free in January. It provided him with a near one-in-two strike ratio that he knows will be a devil to replicate. Champions League qualifying defeats home and away to Panathinaikos and the Levante loss account for three of the blanks he, and his team, have drawn in the past month. All of which means it is far too early to judge his possible contribution in his first full term in Scotland.

“This season is a real challenge for me,” Ojamaa acknowledges. “I’m my own biggest critic and, for me, it’s all about improving. I want to make sure that I take the next step and enjoy another good season. That’s the test I’ve set myself and it isn’t getting any easier. Of course, when defenders know about you – and they study tapes and so on – they’ll take measures to try and stop me.

“They know I like to get the ball to feet so St Johnstone recently used a screening midfielder and that reduced my service but I’m just going to need to mix my game up so I can continue doing the things I do well. If I can do that then I’m sure the goals will come for me and the results will come for the team. We have to keep doing the business in the league because that’s what earned us the European ties in the first place.”

The former Derby County forward rejects the suggestion that a home game against St Mirren this afternoon will be an anti-climax after the, pre-match anyway, excitement generated by European involvement. He also rejects that such excitement did not survive the early stages of the Panathiaikos and Levante ties because Motherwell were too open in setting out in a 4-4-2 formation with two wide men.

“I’m not sure that we need to play more defensively. Most of our squad have experienced playing in Europe before but it can be very cruel. Maybe there are not so many teams in our league that can make use of the space and time in counter-attacks. With the quality Levante had, they didn’t need much of either to carve open our back line. The second goal we lost was a bad one but we were pushing forward and that’s always going to be a gamble. If it had been 0-0 I don’t think we would have let a goal like that in.

“We want to put that defeat behind us and to show the levels that we can reach. Thursday was hard to take but we always knew it was going to be tough in Europe. The important thing for us is to go there and give a good performance. If we are at our very best and they have a bad night then we can get a result but in the first leg it was the opposite of that. We want to put that right.”

Only Celtic of Scotland’s five European representatives have posted any wins in continental competition so far this season. Motherwell, whose income was £6 million last season, were up against a sixth place La Liga side that raked in almost five times that. That is typical of the financial inequalities faced by all but Celtic in their match-ups.

“The draws haven’t been the best for the Scottish clubs,” Ojamma says. “We’ve had two tough opponents, Hearts played Liverpool, Dundee United had a tough tie, drawing and then losing to Dynamo Moscow and St Johnstone drew after losing to a strong Turkish team [Eskisehirspor]. I think that Celtic had the easiest draws [with Helsinki and Helsingborg]. It has been tough for our clubs but at least Celtic are doing well.”