It was Scott McDonald who sold him on a switch to Motherwell in the summer.

And Aussie Apostolos Stamatelopoulos won’t be happy until he’s made the kind of impact at Fir Park as his old team-mate. Over two spells with the Steelmen, Skippy bagged 75 goals in between a spell at Celtic. Later in his career, he teamed up with a young Stamatelopoulos at A-League outfit Western United and encouraged him to sign for Well. The 25-year-old striker has settled well in Lanarkshire and so far has managed four goals in 17 games.

But Stamatelopoulos isn’t content with that level of return for Stuart Kettlewell’s side. He had an impressive goal record at previous club, Newcastle Jets, before arriving in Scotland. And he revealed he’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t hit a minimum of double figures in the Premiership this term.

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After being rested against Celtic at Parkhead on Boxing Day, Stamatelopoulos is set to be unleashed against Rangers on Sunday. And he’s determined to find the back of the net again. As he reflected on McDonald’s influence and his start to life at Motherwell, the Socceroos frontman said: “I looked at what Scott did here before I came.

“He’s a guy I played alongside in Australia for a year and when this move came about, I chatted to him about it.

"He told me to get across here because it would suit my game. I’m getting there. It has been good so far but definitely different to what I’m used to.

“I know that when I get chances, I’ll score. And that would be great because I feel like I should already have a lot more goals personally and be helping the team more. That’s how I feel, I should have more goals. That’s the standards I set for myself.

“The big difference over here is physicality. There is a lot of fighting for long balls so I’ve been getting used to that. But that’s OK, it’s part of the game here. Will you not see the best of me until next season? No, not at all. I think it will happen soon, for sure.

“I felt like I turned a corner when I scored two against Dundee United a couple of weeks ago. When I get quality service I’ll score goals. The United game was the first when I felt comfortable and at my best.

"It’s just about consistency now. I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get into double figures. Every season that’s my target. Even if it’s the low end of it, I’m disappointed. But I still want to hit it.”

Even though he was a young kid in Oz, Stamatelopoulos knows all about the Aussie influence at Rangers over 20 years ago as well, with Craig Moore and Tony Vidmar excelling at Ibrox. But he’d love to get one over on Gers at Fir Park, especially with Philippe Clement’s side still reeling from a defeat to St Mirren on Boxing Day.

Stamatelopoulos started their League Cup semi-final clash at Hampden last time out, when Motherwell lost 2-1 after leading.

And before Sunday's re-match, he said: “Whoever you’re playing, you look back on how you played against them last time.

“I thought we were decent against Rangers at Hampden. We were one-up at half-time in that game, so we can take the positives out of that. This time we’re at home and that’s obviously an advantage for us because our fans help us a lot.

“This is a game we’re really looking forward to. Of course, I remember the Australian players at Rangers back in the day, particularly Tony who is a big name in Australian football and also the town where I’m from in Adelaide. So yeah, I’m relishing the challenge of playing against them.”

Motherwell will have to recover from that 4-0 loss to Celtic on Thursday if they want to strike a blow against the other half of the Old Firm.

And Stamatelopoulos believes they’re more likely to get points against Clement’s side at Fir Park. He said: “Look, to be honest we knew Celtic at Celtic Park was going to be a tough game. We were decent but just got tired towards the end. That has passed now and we are now on to a game which we think is a winnable one at home.”