PLAYERS BACK CRAIGAN BID FOR FIR PARK POST:
STEPHEN CRAIGAN gave the impression of a man wrestling with a major dilemma after getting off to a winning start as Motherwell caretaker manager — while leaving his old pal and now Jags rival Alan Archibald firmly ensconced as the next boss under pressure.
But goalkeeper Connor Ripley believes that Craigan wants to step into the pressure cooker on a permanent basis — and says the players will back him all the way if he does.
Thrust i n at the deep end f ol l owing I an Baraclough’s sacking, the 38-year-old Ulsterman looked overwhelmed at the end of his first stint in the dugout in senior football.
The man who served the club with distinction as a player could barely recall anything of his managerial debut, probably no bad thing given the lack of quality served up by two teams toiling at the wrong end of the table.
As a spectacle it was instantly forgettable, although coming four days after a crushing 3-2 loss to Morton it was a hugely significant result for the Steelmen, and for Craigan’s chances of replacing the man who brought him in to work with the Under-20s earlier this season.
Publicly, and almost certainly out of respect for Baraclough, the ex-Motherwell skipper was giving nothing away, insisting he still had not put himself forward for the job, yet there already appears to be a groundswell of support in the dressing room.
Ripley said: ‘I’ve only known him for a couple of months and he’s a nice guy. If he does get the job, then brilliant. He has come in and he wants it. I think that’s brilliant, so let’s try and give him it.
‘At the end of the day it’s not up to us, it’s the men up top, but from what I can see he wants it.
‘But whoever comes in we are going to support them. At the moment, Craggs is the man in charge, so we’re all behind him.’
The call will be made by club owner Les Hutchison, who tore into the players after the Morton loss claiming they should ‘hang their heads in shame’.
Ripley believes Saturday’s win, which took them seven points clear of Thistle, was the perfect response.
‘He can say what he wants. He puts the money in,’ said Ripley. ‘We haven’t performed. He is well within his rights to say those things. We took it on the chin and said: “Right we don’t want that again”.
‘We want to push on and I think we’ve done that. After the League Cup defeat, the fans deserved it. I don’t care if it’s pretty or not, just as long as we get three points.’
Craigan made five changes from the team shocked by Morton and i t reaped dividends after 22 minutes when Lionel Ainsworth, one of those recalled, waltzed through the Thistle defence and drilled a low shot across goal. His effort appeared to be heading wide when Frederic Frans inexplicably turned it into his own net.
Ainsworth provided another assist 21 minutes from time when he picked out Scott McDonald in the penalty box, the striker making the most of the ludicrous amount of space afforded him to slot home at the second attempt after Tomas Cerny blocked his initial effort.
Thistle, still without a win this season, grabbed a late consolation through sub David Amoo — ending a run of five matches without a goal — but it was too little, too late for the Firhill outfit who remain bottom.
Baraclough and Jackie McNamara have both been ousted from their jobs this week, and for Archibald’s sake as well as the club’s, midfielder Sean Welsh says the Jags cannot afford to get any further detached.
They are only two points adrift of United and f i ve behind Kilmarnock, but the heat is most certainly on, particularly with the Tannadice side up next week with potentially a new man in charge.
‘ We saw how Ross County survived last year after a bad start but we don’t want to give ourselves that big a mountain to climb,’ said Welsh.
‘We’re trying to put it right as quickly as possible and get that win because, once we do, it’ll give us confidence to push on.
‘We played well for large spells, but we go away with no points again. We’ve got to keep believing we’re going to get ourselves out of this. There’s no point giving up, we believe we’re good enough but we’ve got to show fight.
‘Every mistake we’re making, we’re getting punished. When you’re down that’s what tends to happen. We really need to try to cut out the errors and try to get the first goal which is crucial.’
Thistle have scored just three goals in the league campaign so far, but Welsh claims there is no shortage of belief within the squad.
‘The boys are still confident; we’ll still go out and play football. We just need to start being a bit streetwise and close out games. We need to get ourselves in front because the first goal is massive.
‘Motherwell shut up shop a wee bit when they went one up. So we need to try to get there first.’