Steelmen gaffer benched Ilic over red card fear

MOTHERWELL manager Stephen Robinson says he replaced Christian Ilic at half-time at Livingston on Saturday because he feared the midfielder was destined to receive a red card on his Ladbrokes Premiership debut.

Robinson hooked the 23-yearold ahead of the second half of the 0-0 stalemate at the Tony Macaroni Arena, bringing on Sherwin Seedorf, who added some much-needed i mpetus for the Steelmen. Ilic was on a yellow card and, citing Livi’s plastic pitch as a factor, Robinson feared the worst for the former TSV Hartberg man.

“I took Christian off as I thought he was going to be sent off,” revealed Robinson.

“He was on a booking then went into another couple of tackles and, on that pitch, it’s sticky and if you make one wrong decision then you are playing with 10 men. So we needed a bit of freshness – we were trying to win the game, trying to be positive. But there wasn’t a great deal of quality in the game.”

Robinson also felt the impact of Jermaine Hylton – hugely impressive during Well’s Betfred Cup matches – was lessened by the artificial surface in a contest that was largely one of attrition.

Robinson is acutely aware that a vast improvement will be required when they host Celtic next weekend but he is content that the Steelmen have not shown their hand.

Hoops scout Peter Houston was in the stand, running the rule over the North Lanarkshire outfit.

He added: “We didn’t play the football we wanted to but the good thing is Celtic won’t have seen how we can play.”

Dundee boss James McPake was pleased to take a point after a poor first half.