A RELIEVED Stephen Robinson last night praised the character of his Motherwell players after they survived a serious scare against part-time rivals Clyde to book their place in the last 16 of the Betfred Cup.
The Ladbrokes Premiership club fell behind to a first-half David Goodwillie goal at Broadwood and were still trailing 1-0 with just 15 minutes remaining.
The Fir Park club, who knocked out both Aberdeen and Rangers en route to the final of this competition last season, were facing the ignominy of failing to progress from the group stages to the knockout rounds.
However, Curtis Main levelled with a close-range strike at a corner in the 76th minute, Danny Johnson put the visitors in front shortly after that with his first goal for his new club and then Conor Sammon netted in injury-time.
Robinson had stressed to his charges the importance of refusing to panic at half-time and felt they were rewarded for doing exactly that during the second-half.
“We had 19 shots, but not many of them were on target,” he said. “Our quality in the final third wasn’t good enough. We were getting into decent areas without penetrating.
“But I told the players they were going to have to be patient. The better teams in this league are patient and keep doing the simple things well all the time. I think we did that.
“You have to give credit to my players. They were patient and showed their quality in the last 20 minutes. We told them it may take that long to break them down. We were positive with our substitutions. We couldn’t have gone any more attacking. We got the result we deserved in the end.”
Robinson added: “We had to do the same against Edinburgh City to qualify last season. We won in the last minute when Elliott Frear scored. There are no easy matches. You have to give credit to Clyde. They took their chance well. It was a great finish.
“We looked rusty at times. We looked as if we are still in the middle of pre-season – which we are because these games have come in place of that. But there were some good performances. The boys showed a lot of character in difficult conditions and in the end it was mission accomplished.”
Danny Lennon, the Clyde manager, felt energy-sapping trips to play Stair Park and Palmerston in the earlier rounds of the competition had taken their toll on his players towards the end of the match.
“The big thing that cost us was fitness,” he said. “Their fitness levels came through in the end. A lot has been demanded of our players because of the sections in this competition.
“We were down at Stranraer on Tuesday evening and had been down to Queen of the South the Tuesday before that.
“That is asking a lot of part-time players to do. The full-time clubs in this competition have an advantage because they can recover properly from those sort of games.”
Lennon added: “We are disappointed in the dressing room because we felt there was something to be taken from the game. They are a big, physical side and we handled them very well. For long periods we matched them. I was proud of every single one of them.
“There were a lot of good performances. There were a lot of positive things that happened for us. It sometimes takes players in the lower divisions time to settle into these games. But there were periods when we showed what a good footballing side we are. We got it down and managed, passed it about and carved them open.”
Robinson revealed that several Motherwell first team regulars had sustained injuries and are now doubtful starters for their difficult opening Premiership match against Hibernian at Easter Road a week today.
“Carl McHugh got a dead leg and had to go off in the first half,” he said. “It was a bad one, right on the knee. It has swollen up a little bit. We had to take him off.
“Chris Cadden is more of an injury concern to me. Our initial assessment is it is his hip flexor. We had made our three subs so he has hobbled through the last 10 minutes. He is a bit of concern for next week. We will probably look at him on Thursday and make a decision then.
“Ryan Bowman didn’t play either. That was a precaution. He had a protective boot on. He will take that off after three or four days and we will. We have a few injuries.”
“But Conor Sammon has come in and scored three in three. That is a good stat. Danny Johnson came on and scored as well. Strikers are getting goals so we’re happy with that. But there are a lot of things we can improve.”
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