Apostolos Stamatelopoulos on his first Motherwell goal as he reveals injury comeback that merits major reward
The striker netted his first for Motherwell on Saturday.
He’s edging towards the bad books at home - but a call from home is being relished by Apostolos Stamatelopoulos after his first Motherwell goal.
The Australian striker scored the opener in the club’s 2-1 Premiership win at Hibs on Saturday. That leaves them fourth in the Premiership, with the game being Stamatelopoulos’ second start since joining from Newcastle Jets, having picked up an injury in his first against Rangers that kept him out for over a month.
He now hopes to put a rare injury blow behind them, as he revealed the training ground work that allowed Lennon Miller to slot him in off a free-kick for his powerful finish. The forward said: "It was a great feeling getting my first goal. It was my first start in a while after injury, so I'm just buzzing.
"Injuries are part of football and luckily it's the first time I've been injured in a while, and touch wood that's the end for a while. I worked on the goal with Lennon Miller in training on Friday and we saw the space. We kind of locked eyes and we knew that we were going to do it, so we're really happy it worked out."
Stamatelopoulos’ partner and child have now arrived in the UK, but the forward is already on his way home to feature for the Socceroos. It wasn’t something that left his wife best pleased but there’s joy in the call-up that given his injury, wasn’t expected.
He said: “My missus just got here with the little one ten days ago, so she's not very happy that I'm leaving straight away. With the injury and being out for such a long time we kind of gambled that maybe I wasn't going to be in this squad.
"But I'm extremely proud and honoured to get the call-up, and buzzing to get a goal and heading to there with confidence. My wife is proud that I'm in the squad, of course, but it's just bad timing, really.
"I left Australia within three days of my little one being born, and then it was two months exactly until they came over. These last ten days have been unbelievable, it takes the injury, everything away, so it's great to have them at home.
"It was a very difficult two months and then as soon as they got over here it was unbelievable, a really great feeling. She's done extremely well, I'm very proud of her."
Australia take on China this wee before travelling to Japan next Tuesday as part of key World Cup qualifiers under new boss Tony Popovic. It’s an uphill task for the Socceroos to gain automatic qualification after suffering defeat to Bahrain, but Stamatelopoulos is just keen to gain another cap, having earned his first in June's thrashing of Palestine.
He added: "We've got China at home in Adelaide, which is where I'm from, so I'm really buzzing to play in front of friends and family. Me being Greek, a lot of family will be coming to watch for sure. I am very happy and proud to represent the country that I'm from and my family's from, so it's an amazing feeling to get called up.
"These two games are must-wins for Australia, though, and everyone in that changing room and squad will want to go and get six points in these next two games."