Foran: I’ll fight my corner to stay boss
GROWING up in Dublin’s toughest inner city quarter, Richie Foran tended to lead with his fists.
So it was no surprise to witness the man from the East Wall estate come out fighting after a week of speculation over his job.
With Inverness Caley Thistle four points adrift at the foot of the Premiership, and fans’ patience snapping, there were reports of an emergency board meeting to discuss Foran’s future.
Rubbishing those reports as “rumours, speculation and lies”, Foran insisted he retained the full backing of chairman Kenny Cameron and his directors.
In a powerful statement of his faith in his players’ ability to save the situation, the 36-year-old insisted a part of him was enjoying MOTHErWEll boss Steve robinson has backed top gun louis Moult to fire his team out the relegation pressure cooker and into the calm of top-flight safety.
The English striker has bagged 15 goals this term but has been absent for the past two matches against Hamilton Accies and Partick Thistle as he struggles with an ankle injury.
In this absence, Well have failed to score and dropped into the relegation play-off spot with just six games remaining.
But Robinson is hopeful key man Moult will be fit in time for tomorrow’s crunch clash against Inverness Caley Thistle and is convinced the hitman’s goals can be the big difference in the battle for survival.
He said: “Anybody who has seen the last four or five games can see that we’ve created four or five chances in each game.
“If you then have somebody like Louis, who can nick a goal, you can win these tight games even if it is just 1-0.
“The Hamilton game, with Louis in there, maybe we win 1-0. He scored against Rangers and had a goal disallowed.
“Every team, not just us, misses the main striker who scores goals. Of course you do.
“We’re already hard to beat. We have worked to become hard to beat in the six games I’ve been in here. We’re an organised team.
“Ultimately, that keeps you in the game. That stops you from losing but you still need players who will win the game for you and Louis does that.
“We have other strikers who have come in and contributed but when Louis is there he definitely gives us a big boost.
“He has trained, which is great news for us, so we’ll see how he reacts to that.
“We’ve obviously left it right to the last minute and we want to give him every opportunity. That’s how important he is to us and we’re very hopeful.”
Robinson’s assertions on Moult’s value are correct.
Despite managing to stop the flow of goals against, Motherwell have been unable to convert their attacking threat and into a points return over the past 180 minutes.
The manager said: “We haven’t lost any of our attacking intent.
“We went to Rangers and played three right up top, we created chance after chance against Hamilton, so I don’t think it’s the case that we’ve lost anything going forward.
“There has to be a fine balance between being organised and sacrificing your attacking flair but I’m not sure I can be any more attacking.
“There aren’t many more attacking players on the pitch but it’s not cavalier.
“It’s in an organised structure. We’ve been very positive and very attacking. If I’m honest, I’d rather play poorly and still get the points at this stage of the season.
“How we play isn’t a great concern to me at the minute, whereas picking up the points is. We probably haven’t got the points we’ve deserved recently for the way we have played.
“So we have to go out and rectify that against Inverness.”
While there is plenty of pressure on the Steelmen, Richie Foran’s Inverness look to be under even more stress.
Anchored at the foot of the table, defeat tomorrow would see the Highlanders slip seven points behind their hosts in the fight to stay up.
Robinson said: “It’s a pressurepositivity cooker situation and let’s not dress it up, this match is a big game for us.
“Psychologically more than anything. There are still a lot of points to play for afterwards and we won’t stay up or go down on the basis of beating Inverness on Saturday.
“But a win could move us to eighth position and that could change the feeling around the place completely.
“Pressure can increase at times when you are not prepared but we are prepared and everyone can see that.
“We’re well organised and there is pressure on players.
“Our fans have been superb. We were poor in the first half (at Partick last weekend) but came out in the second half and everyone was right behind the players. If you give the fans a reason to get behind you then they will do so.
“Players are human– they feel the pressure and they will make mistakes. But it’s about how you respond to making those mistakes.
“I don’t worry about the opposition in terms of what goes on in the background with them.
“But I agree a win would put a cushion between us and them and that’s why it’s a huge match for both teams.
“We just want to make sure we are safe and the take the pressure off ourselves.”