It was a fantastic night for Sligo Rovers and the League of Ireland as the Bit O'Red knocked Scottish Premier League side Motherwell out of the Europa Conference League. Goals from Shane Blaney and Max Mata sealed a 2-0 second leg victory, sending John Russell's side into the third qualifying round where they will face Norweigan outfit Viking.
Four minutes in to last night’s game, we witnessed something special.
A moment to remember for Shane Blaney
The Showgrounds erupted 😭🎵 #bitored pic.twitter.com/Etb28jbQXY— Sligo Rovers (@sligorovers) July 29, 2022
It's an incredible result for Sligo, especially given the general disrespect from Scotland towards the club, and indeed Irish football.
Last week, the Scottish newspaper the Daily Record has a headline saying "They Think It's All Rover" and went on to call Sligo Rovers 'minnows' after their first leg, 1-0 win over Motherwell.
What an INCREDIBLE result🔴⚪️🔴⚪️ @sligorovers 🔥🔥🔥 one for the history books - no longer "Irish Minnows"
Pic/newspaper credit: #DailyRecord https://t.co/kBqAgL61Lm pic.twitter.com/yHu3YvGIAW— Catherine Toolan (@catherinetoolan) July 28, 2022
Today, it's safe to say that the Scottish media were left looking slightly embarrassing, considering the tie finished 3-0 on aggregate. As many asked on Twitter, if Sligo are 'minnows', then what on earth are Motherwell, who kick off their SPL season this weekend? Here's a look at the best of the Scottish media's reaction to the result.
Scottish media reaction to Sligo Rovers win over Motherwell
The Herald Scotland
The Herald were gracious in Motherwell's defeat, highlighting Sligo Rovers' class over the course of the two legs and stating that Sligo "deserved their win". The Herald went with a hard hitting lede at the start of the article calling the defeat an "embarrassment".
Motherwell’s Europa Conference League aspirations ended in embarrassment as another defeat by Sligo Rovers saw them exit the second qualifying round 3-0 on aggregate.
The Herald have also targeted head coach Graham Alexander who has now come under severe pressure even before the Scottish Premiership has begun.
By contrast, it was a miserable night for the Steelmen who will begin their cinch Premiership campaign away to St Mirren on Sunday under a European cloud and boss Alexander will come under the spotlight.
The Scottish Sun
The Scottish Sun took a slightly more ruthless approach in their article this morning, labelling the defeat to Sligo Rovers as "humiliating" with a headline of "EUR DONE" being chosen by The Sun.
It's a short piece written by the paper, but they did manage to get their feelings of the loss across.
Kenny MacDonald wrote:
Motherwell went into the fixture without an away win in Europe – other than the penalty shoot-out victory over Coleraine two years ago – in their eight previous attempts.
However going out to a Sligo side who sit fifth in the League of Ireland Premier Division is nevertheless a humiliating outcome - since the Irish side had won just two of the 14 European fixtures they’d previously played at The Showgrounds."
Similarly to The Herald, they also targeted Motherwell manager Graham Alexander saying:
The Well support certainly seemed to have made their minds up about boss Graham Alexander as they watched their side knocked out after another unimaginative and uninspired display.
The Scotsman
The Scotsman also didn't hold their feelings back on Motherwell's shock exit from the Europa Conference League. They spoke about the lack of quality throughout the Motherwell side and said that they don't have " the quality to represent Scotland in Europe".
They said:
Not good enough.
This is a result which can easily be taken in isolation. This Motherwell side are quite simply not of the quality to represent Scotland in Europe, not good enough full stop, and a damning indictment of what was last season’s Scottish Premiership.
The question marks surrounding Graham Alexander's future as Motherwell boss were also raised by The Scotsmen.
The pressure on Alexander intensifies with just four wins in 90 minutes in their last 23 games.
A fantastic occasion for Sligo Rovers and the League of Ireland, but it's fair to say our neighbours across the Irish Sea haven't taken the defeat all that well.
SEE ALSO: Outrageous Free Kick Sends Sligo Rovers Through In Europe
