Motherwell manager Stuart McCall suffered a frustrating dose of deja vu as he saw Kuban Krasnodar's killer second goal unfold before his eyes at Fir Park.
For the third European tie in a row at Fir Park, Motherwell lost 2-0 following a late goal on the counter-attack as they pressed for an equaliser.
Motherwell had responded well to Ivelin Popov's 52nd-minute opener in the first leg of the Europa League third qualifying round, but last man Stevie Hammell gifted possession to the Russians with most of his team-mates up the park for a 77th-minute corner, and seconds later Popov swept home following a swift counter-attack.
McCall had warned his side not to suffer the same fate and had played a more cautious 4-5-1 system, but the end result was the same as last season's first-leg defeats to Panathinaikos and Levante.
"We got to 74, 75 minutes and the plan was to go 4-4-2 and launch some balls in," McCall said.
"But the second goal - I saw it coming, as soon as it came out and we played the wrong pass.
"It was deja vu - exactly the same as last season. We talked about it all week and by the looks of that we didn't learn.
"That's most disappointing aspect."
Ibrahima Balde hit the bar for the visitors, who are unbeaten in their first three league games, but Motherwell had finished the first half in reasonable shape before the visitors stepped up a gear.
There was more misery in stoppage time when John Sutton was denied a lifeline as his header crashed off the post.
Source: PA
