Robbo: Big Ben isn’t woundupbyGerstalk
BEN HENEGHAN won’t be distracted from Motherwell’s survival push with speculation linking him to Rangers. That was the view of Well manager Stephen Robinson who has backed the 23-year-old to show his mettle for the Steelmen and be a rock against Hamilton Accies tomorrow.
Former Everton kid Heneghan has only been at Motherwell for one season since signing for Chester but, despite being part of a defence with the second-worst goals against in the Premiership, has been rumoured to be on Pedro Caixinha’s radar.
Heneghan is currently in the middle of a scrap at the foot of the table with the Lanarkshire side desperately needing three points at the SuperSeal Stadium this weekend to haul them out of bottom spot.
Robinson reckons his man will be able to handle the attention on him, and said: “He’ll be fine, he’s come from non-league and has worked his socks off for this club and I’ve no doubt he’ll be giving 150 per cent for the cause.
“In truth he’s been my only defender during the time I’ve been here. Stephen McManus has been injured, Richard Tait and Hammell have been injured so Ben has been the one consistent.
“Carl McHugh has been put back there but he’s a central midfielder. Ben has been a colossus and you find out about people and Ben never ducks it, it says a lot about the boys character.
“I’ve read the speculation and saw it on TV but our policy is to bring players in from non-league or League Two and One and try to put them back out again. We would never deny a player an opportunity but Ben is a massive part of what we’re trying to do.”
THE incentive is clear for Motherwell, and indeed Accies, going into this monumental Lanarkshire derby.
A victory would take either side to within potentially just one game away from safety, while defeat could leave the other as little as a point from bottom-placed Inverness if they beat Kilmarnock.
“We need to stay calm but I can’t hide the fact that there is pressure on everyone at the football club,” said Robinson.
“You can’t keep ramming it down their throats about pressure, pressure, pressure. My job has to lift a bit of that off of them and the players have responded.
“All of the talking in the world means nothing, it’s now all about Saturday and who wants to win the game as much as possible and we aim to do that.”
Robinson has experience of such situations before. As a coach he was part of Ian Baraclough’s backroom staff that helped Motherwell overcome Rangers two years ago in the play-off final, while as a player he scored two goals on the last day of the season to keep Bournemouth in the football league back in 1994/95.
“We were young boys at Bournemouth, we didn’t have a care in the world,” he added.
“We had a manager in Sean O’Driscoll who took the pressure off us and we had an inner belief. That’s what I’m trying to do here.
“We got the result we needed to keep the club in business. We were able to win the game and the rest is history as the club has gone on to bigger and better things. You just deal with it.”