BACK IN THE NICK OF TIME
Hammell wins out in the pain game and hopes his return can help Motherwell grab a late lifeline in their battle to beat the drop
BATTERED and bashed, blackened and bruised, the men in claret and amber seek only an escape from their weekly suffering. If they need an example of how hope can triumph over expectation — reality, even — they needn’t look too far.
One morning not so long ago, Stevie Hammell woke to find his entire leg looking like a golf-bag banana. He didn’t need to be an expert to know that something was very wrong. He feared that his season — and, at 33, maybe even his career — was over.
Two games into his return from a groin i njury gone badly awry, Hammell has helped Motherwell to take four points from a possible six, opening up the possibility of leapfrogging either Kilmarnock or Ross County to avoid the relegation play-off spot.
The Steelmen need as many experienced campaigners in their ranks as they can get right now.
With a worse goal difference than their rivals, victory is practically essential at relegated St Mirren today if they are to body-swerve a nerve-wracking showdown with Hibs, Rangers or Queen of the South.
It has certainly been a welcome comeback for Hammell, now in his second spell at Fir Park, a veteran of the real horrors of 2002 and 2003 when t he club plunged i nto administration and then finished bottom of the top flight.
They only escaped the drop then because Falkirk’s Brockville ground barely passed health-and- safety tests, never mind the old SPL stadia criteria.
Assessing the club’s current plight, he sees no more than surface similarities between now and then. Despite being three points behind their nearest rivals, there is little in the way of despair around the squad at the moment.
That is certainly true of Hammell, who sustained his freak setback from groin surgery doing nothing more than bending down to lift his son at home.
‘My whole leg was black and blue, all the way down,’ he said. ‘I thought my season was f i nished then, because it all came from my groin.
‘I just made a freak movement and I actually felt my groin open up. It was like water pouring out.
‘ For about two hours later, I couldn’t walk. When I woke up in the morning, I looked down and my whole leg was black and blue.
‘I phoned the physio, sent him a picture of it and said: “I’m going to have to come in and see you.”
‘I thought I’d done some damage. My groin was up like a balloon. It was something to look at. I have some pictures of it but, believe me, you don’t want to see them.
‘It was scary. You start to think: “Will this ever get right?” Touch wood, that is all behind me now.
‘Things have progressed from there. I’ve moved from training to playing for the Under-20s and now the first team.
‘I hope to keep pushing on — I will probably be getting up to speed just as the season is finishing!
‘I’m not a patient man, the physio found that out this season. In fact, I am an absolute nightmare if I am not playing, especially if the team is losing. I think the physio is glad to see the back of me, glad to get me out of his room. I’m glad to be out of there, as well.
‘It’s just good to be back playing. Now the aim is to finish the season strong and stay in the league.
‘When they said my season was probably over, my mind was settled on that.
‘The doctor told me I had really released the groin, released the whole muscle and it would take longer to heal, but it would be a natural process. That was at the end of January, just as the transfer window was closing.
‘In a way, it was a bit of peace of mind. I kept getting fit and thinking I’d be back for this game or that game, only to have a setback.
‘I just accepted that my season was over. Maybe that is what made me relax and get on with it.’
According to Motherwell manager Ian Baraclough, just having an e xperience c ampaigner l i ke Hammell back on the scene has helped the team, mentally as well as in a football sense. He needs plenty of strong characters around the place right now.
A win in Paisley this afternoon would at least ask the question of Kilmarnock ( who are away to Partick Thistle) and Ross County (at home to Hamilton) going into next weekend’s final fixtures.
Sometimes a team just feel like they are doomed to relegation. St Mirren had that air about them. And, for a long while, there was the whiff of despair at Motherwell.
Ask Hammell about comparisons with the real crisis a dozen or so years ago, however, and he insists: ‘This does have a different feel to it. The club is in a totally different place now.
‘In those, days we were playing young boys who were not ready for the first team, even though it was the making of a few good players. They didn’t have the experience needed and we maybe had a coaching staff of two for the whole club.
‘Now it’s so much better. There is healthy competition for places, real experience in the dressing room, which we didn’t have at that time.
‘So, although we’re in a similar situation, the circumstances could not be more different.
‘The club has new owners, as well. Les Hutchison has come in and spoken to the boys a couple of times, tried to give us a lift for these coming games.’
Baraclough, who has Josh Law back in his squad, believes last Friday night’s win over Kilmarnock gives his team at least a chance.
‘If we were to win our last three games, and we’ve ticked off the first leg, then we are going to get close,’ he said. ‘It will be close, even if there is no guarantee that we will get over the line.’
“I was told my season was over and accepted that. Maybe it is what made me relax and get on with it”