CRAIG REID thought the spotlight may never shine on him again on the European stage as Queen of the South stood defeated in Denmark.

But six years on the defender is determined not to suffer the same fate in Iceland on Thursday as Motherwell look to clinch a place in the Europa League third qaulifying round.

The full back was part of the Queens team that bowed out of the Uefa Cup to Nordsjaelland 4-2 on aggregate in 2008 despite a spirited showing from the Scottish Cup runners-up.

Reid was just 22 at the time of that defeat, which was the first taste of continental competition for the majority of the Doonhamers squad.

However, after having sampled it again with Motherwell in their 2-2 second round, first leg draw with Stjarnan on Thursday, the impressive Well right back is relishing the prospect of rewriting his Euro script with the Lanarkshire club.

"Before last week it had been six years since I had last played in Europe when I was with Queen of the South. You think it might never come round again," he admitted.

"It's good to be back involved at this level. It's early in the season and it's hard to get your fitness up.

"But despite that it doesn't take much to get up for these kind of ties. This is where you want to play your football.

"I was a lot younger back then when we faced the Danish team and probably not as mature as a player.

"We lost an away goal in the first minute and from then on you are chasing the game.

"Over there we went up 1-0 and we had chances to go through, but we ended up losing two late goals.

"I've yet to win a tie but hopefully that will come on Thursday night."

That is an outcome Reid is confident is not outwith Motherwell's reach.

The Fir Park side, who finished second in the 2013-14 Premiership thanks to the defender's dramatic winner at Pittodrie in the last game of the season, were 2-0 up against Stjarnan last week after just 20 minutes.

However, a penalty either side of half-time, the latter coming in the dying seconds, means Well head to Iceland needing to score to have any chance of facing Nomme Kalju of Estonia or Lech Poznan of Poland in the next round.

It's a Motherwell mission that Reid says Stuart McCall's men have 'no fears' over.

"I thought we were really comfortable at 2-0, so to lose the penalty in the last minute was a real blow," said the former Morton man.

"Another week of building our fitness will help. We are more than capable of going over there and scoring a few goals. We have no fears.

"We've been to hard places in the league and won, just look at Aberdeen on the last day of the season.

"We're confident of winning the tie."