We’ve not got time to feel sorry for ourselves... we are a lot better than that
SAYS RYAN BOWMAN
THEY bounded into Hampden harbouring genuine hopes of taking the League Cup trophy back to Fir Park for the first time since 1950.
Yet thanks to one cruel moment in a 90-minute match, Motherwell’s tear-stained players looked like a broken bunch as they collected their runners-up medals at full time.
But the anger that greeted referee Craig Thomson’s controversial award of a game-changing penalty and red card for Cedric Kipre — after only the slightest contact on Celtic’s Scott Sinclair — was quickly replaced by a quiet determination amongst the Steelmen.
Despite their utter devastation, Stephen Robinson’s beaten men have vowed to lick their wounds and bounce back to ensure a fine campaign to date is not derailed by any lingering sense of injustice.
‘You can feel sorry for yourselves and let the season drift away, but we are better than that,’ said crestfallen striker Ryan Bowman after Sunday’s 2-0 defeat.
‘But it was disappointing, obviously. It was a cup final, a big occasion, and we wanted to win. We matched Celtic in the first half and we felt there wasn’t much in the game.
‘And even when they went 1-0 up, I still thought we had a good chance because we are one of the fittest teams in the league and we go to the very end.
‘But when they got the penalty and we had a man sent off at the same time, it was always going to be an uphill battle from there.
‘It is important we take things on from here. As hard as it may be to lose a final, we have to dust ourselves down and pick ourselves up as quickly as possible.
‘We don’t want to feel sorry for ourselves and let things affect us in the league. We have been fantastic so far this season and we need to go again.
‘This season has been totally different to last season. We’ve gone from a relegation battle to fighting for a top-six place.
‘First and foremost, it’s about us staying well away from relegation. We don’t want another season like the last one. But then, instead of looking behind us, we want to be looking forward as much as we can.
‘There is great team spirit in our dressing room and we all know our jobs. After Sunday, we just have to push on. We can’t just drift off. We have to keep going and going.
‘We have to take each game as it comes and see where we end up. And on Wednesday night at Fir Park, we have another one that is just as big as Hampden...’
As fate would have it, the game in question is a swift rematch against Brendan Rodgers’ side in the Premiership.
It’s an evening when Celtic winger Sinclair can expect a hot Lanarkshire reception for his role in the Kipre incident.
For Motherwell captain Carl McHugh, the cup final loss, fuelled by that hotly-disputed spot-kick, was his toughest moment in football.
‘It probably is,’ he nodded. ‘It’s just the manner of it. You saw in the first half we had a plan and our plan was going well. We were right in the game. And even when we went a goal down, we reacted well and Louis Moult nearly scored an equaliser for us.
‘But, obviously, the second goal killed the game. It’s hard enough playing a team like Celtic when you have 11 men. With ten men, you are just trying to hang on.
‘It was very harsh. I was near the incident and I don’t think Cedric touched him (Sinclair). The other boys that were around him were also adamant Cedric hadn’t touched him.
‘I tried to speak to the referee, but he didn’t really want to engage.
‘It’s just so disappointing because we all worked so hard to get this far and for a big game to be settled like that is so, so disheartening. It’s killed the game for us and it’s really, really hard to take.
‘Yes, we gave our all in the final and did all we could. But, at the moment, that’s no consolation. In a way, it makes it worse.’
Motherwell-born winger Chris Cadden was not born the last time his hometown team lifted a trophy, the Scottish Cup in 1991.
The 21-year-old Scotland Under-21 international was left gutted by a tale of two penalty claims that crushed his dreams of becoming a cup-winning local hero.
‘The game hinged on two penalty decisions,’ he sighed.
‘I didn’t have a good view of our penalty claim (when Kieran Tierney challenged Moult in the box), but I’ve seen theirs again and it’s a soft red card for Cedric.
‘I quietly made my feelings known to the referee at the end. I can’t really remember what he said to me, apart from: “Watch it again”.
‘If Celtic had outplayed us and beat us 3-0 then you would hold your hands up and say what a good team they were.
‘But we matched them in that first half. I felt we were coming back into the game after they scored, but then we lost Cedric to a red card.
‘It’s hard enough playing any Premiership team with ten men, never mind Celtic, who have now gone 65 games unbeaten and can bring players off the bench like Leigh Griffiths, Patrick Roberts and Tom Rogic.
‘But I thought the boys were brilliant and the result was really hard to take.’