Motherwell boss wants to make history just like NI’s Euro heroes
MOTHERWELL manager Stephen Robinson compared winning the Scottish Cup to Northern Ireland qualifying for the European Championships.
After watching Well ruthlessly dismantle Aberdeen in Saturday’s semi-final, Robinson tipped his men to match the feats of the Steelmen’s 1991 Scottish Cup heroes.
“We can now make history like the ‘91 guys,” he said.
“Before the game, I used the analogy about the Northern Ireland squad that got to the Euros (in 2016). All we heard was about the 1982 and ‘86 ( World Cup) squad. It’s all they talked about and rightly so, they deserved it.
“But now there are new heroes in town with the squad that qualified.
“And these boys have such a terrific chance here now. They’re honest boys who aren’t earning millions of pounds but give you everything. I’d love to see it.”
Two-goal hero Curtis Main insists the same belief that helped them sweep the Dons aside at Hampden can take them all the way to glory.
“Before we went out, t he dressing room was rocking ,” the former Middlesbrough and Portsmouth striker said. “We all had a real belief in ourselves. We know what we are capable of, we have shown it many times this season.”
Motherwell have already proven they can compete with Celtic this season, having drawn twice with the Hoops, and Main added: “We are not there to make the numbers up. We are in the final because we deserve to be in the final.
“So when that day comes around, we will go out with the same hunger and the same drive and we will look to lift that cup.”
Ma i n tapped home a 20th-minute opener and Motherwell were two ahead through Ryan Bowman two minutes later.
And Main put the result beyond any doubt midway through the second half when he charged down Kari Arnason’s clearance on the halfway line and raced through to finish. CELTIC hammered hapless 10man Rangers 4-0 at Hampden Park to book a William Hill Scottish Cup final date with Motherwell next month.
Tom Rogic swept the Hoops into the lead in the 22nd minute and fellow midfielder Callum McGregor made it 2-0 with a drive in the 38th minute of a startlingly one-sided encounter
Five minutes after the break Gers defender Ross McCrorie was given a straight red card by referee Bobby Madden for denying Moussa Dembele an obvious goalscoring opportunity, and from the resultant penalty the French striker (right) scored ‘Panenka’ style for his seventh goal in nine Old Firm games.
The Ibrox side rallied in desperation but midfielder Olivier Ntcham scored a fourth from the spot in the 78 th minute with Graeme Murty’s side fortunate to finish with no further damage.
If Murty harboured any prospects of keeping the job next season then they were surely heavily damaged by a Hoops side who have now gone 10 games unbeaten against Rangers under Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers. CELTIC: Gordon, Lustig, Boyata, Ajer, Tierney, Ntcham, Brown, Forrest (Roberts, 73 mins) Rogic (Sinclair, 60 mins), McGregor, Dembele (Griffiths, 80 mins). Unused subs: Bain, Simunovic, Kouassi, Edouard
RANGERS: Foderingham, Tavernier, McCrorie, Martin, John, Docherty, Dor
Celtic beat Motherwell in the Betfred Cup final in November and will meet the Fir Park side again in the showpiece finale on May 19.
They will be strong favourites to win a historic second successive treble, their seventh Ladbrokes Premiership title in a row a mere formality.
The Parkheadad side made their intentionss known right from the kick-off.f.
In the fifth minute of a typically freneticc start to this Glasgow derby, Dembele volleyedyed a Ntcham cross off the post with the
Light Blues defenceence getting the ballll to safety.
The Hoops, sharperarper in possession andnd quicker in thought, dominatedinated pos-possession.
A couple of Celtic cor-corners f l ashed acrossacross rans (Holt, 73 mins) Halliday (Windass, 40 mins), Candeias (Alves, 53 mins), Morelos, Murphy. Unused subs: Alnwick, Hodson, Miller, Cummings
Referee: Bobby Madden
Man of the match: Moussa Dembele Match rating: 7/10
Rangers’ six-yard box before Rogic took a pass from James Forrest and turned back on to his right foot, leaving McCrorie for dead, and then from 14 yards guided the ball almost casually past Rangers goalkeeper Wes Foderingham
Moments later, the Australia international had another chachance but this time his weak effort was cacaught by Foderinghamham.
Celtic were simply pplaying at a higheer tempo and in the 332nd minute Ntcham ffired just wide from tthe edge of thee bbox.
A timid- looking RanRangers could nott get hhold of the ball for any lelength of time.
HowHowever, it was a horrorror mmistake by Rangers defendedefender Russell Martin which handed Celtic their second. His attempted clearance from Kieran Tierney’s cross went straight to McGregor who gleefully and quickly curled the ball past Foderingham.
Midfielder Andy Halliday was immediately replaced by Josh Windass and he made his unhappiness clear.
Any thoughts of a comeback ended early in the second half when McCrorie pulled back Dembele as he raced through on goal and after he was given his marching orders, Dembele dinked his spot kick down the middle with Foderingham diving to his left.
Bruno Alves was put on for Daniel Candeias and the veteran Portuguese defender forced a good save from Craig Gordon with a header, seconds after the Hoops keeper had made a similarly impressive save from Alfredo Morelos.
The Colombian striker then missed a great chance, hitting the ball straight at Gordon, after Celtic defender Mikael Lustig’s sliced clearance had ccome off his own crossbar.
Forrest bent a shot wide oof the target before Rangerse substitute Jason Holt, on for Graham Dorrans, conceded a penalty for a foul on Patrick Roberts, and Ntcham despatched the spot-kick into the corner of the net.