THERE are mixed emotions in the Motherwell camp following the news that goalkeeper Trevor Carson will miss the rest of the season as a result of suffering deep vein thrombosis.
They are shattered that they are losing such an important player but relieved he will make a full recovery and the man who has come in to replace Carson, Mark Gillespie, might just be a lucky mascot.
Gillespie, who has featured in over 200 English Football League games and will face Celtic tonight, played a role in what proved to be Brendan Rodgers' last days as manager at Liverpool three years ago.
Carson has been told he will need six months to fully recover after the major scare last month.
Centre-back Tom Aldred said: “It’s devastating news. We have lost a great character in the dressing room and a top goalkeeper, one of the best I have played in front of.
“So it’s frustrating from that point of view but first and foremost I’m just happy that’s he’s alive and well and able to recover.
“It was a really scary and crazy situation. I knew he felt something in his arm but nobody expected it to be DVT.
“Thankfully he has his health and hopefully he will come back next season.
“He has been in a few mornings and he’s been at the games and seems in good spirits so hopefully he will be OK.
“We all know how good Trevor is as a keeper and we’re gutted to lose him but in Mark we have someone who has come in and done very well.
“He was someone who was always waiting to come in. He has big gloves to fill but he will be determined to take the opportunity.”
Gillespie was between the sticks at Anfield on September 23, 2015 when Liverpool were embarrassingly held to a 1-1 draw by Carlisle United in the League Cup then scraped through on penalties. Eleven days later Rodgers was sacked and replaced by Jurgen Klopp.
Stephen Robinson is just thankful he was able to sign a player of Gillespie’s quality in the summer.
The Fir Park boss said: “I’ve stated before it’s about Trevor’s health, that’s all that’s important. We’re just happy he’s on the road to recovery and on the right medicine.
“Mark has stepped in and been excellent. I always thought that if Trevor went in the summer, I knew I had another number one goalkeeper on our hands.”
Robinson is demanding a reaction from his players after flopping at Livingston on Saturday and insists they won’t be giving any special attention to man of the moment Ryan Christie.
He said: “That’s what you get with young players and boys at the level we have, and we have to aim to get more consistency into our play. We need to get back to doing the basics very, very well.
“Celtic are coming off the back of a very successful cup final on Sunday,
“Whether Ryan plays again I don’t know. Celtic won’t be short of players who can step in and do that.
“He’s done very well, he’s an extremely talented boy who also did well at Aberdeen. He was always someone you were very wary of playing.
“But we’ll try and worry about ourselves. We’ll go with a game plan as we always do against Celtic and make life hard and uncomfortable for them.”
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