FIR PARK BOSS SALUTES HIS MEN AFTER GOAL BLITZ

STEPHEN ROBINSON lauded his Motherwell players for finally going goal crazy against Glentoran. Still awaiting their first win of the season, the Fir Park men were level at half-time and had to wait until just after the dismissal of Seanan Clucas for Callum Lang to notch the opener. But having seen his side go on to hit five to secure their first win since March, Robinson said: ‘I’m very pleased. Obviously this is our first win of the season and we were under no illusions that it would be a tough game. ‘I thought Glentoran battled really hard, were organised and hard to break down. ‘But I knew if we kept going and stuck to our beliefs we’d break them down and show our quality and that’s what transpired. Our quality shone through in the end. We had five different scorers and it could have been more. I’m pleased with the end result and to progress in Europe. It’s been coming. ‘Someone was going to get it and, unfortunately for Glentoran, it was them.’ Robinson experimented with a three-atthe-back system — and believes it might be the change that turns their league season around. ‘We were putting a lot of pressure on the 4-3-3 system,’ he added. ‘So we recognised that and put two up top and released our midfielders to go that bit higher up the pitch. It worked well. We created a lot of chances and it was pleasing to see all our forwards score. Hopefully we’ll kick on. ‘In the closing stages, you could see our belief growing. We changed the shape tonight as we’d been relying on wide players who maybe weren’t on form and there was maybe no end product with their game.’ Delighted to secure the first win of the campaign, Robinson said: ‘I think this result does take a weight off our shoulders. I’ve got the utmost faith in the squad and the staff but results convince people of that. It’s still a young squad. Boys sometimes beat themselves up as they are very conscientious. ‘The atmosphere and belief around the place has never wavered. We knew that things weren’t dropping, so we tweaked it with the shape.’ Motherwell will net over £3m from the sale of David Turnbull to Celtic — although Robinson doesn’t anticipate seeing any of that. He said: ‘What I want is the infrastructure of the football club, the training ground sorted out and I think the club will back that completely because we do develop players and having a better environment to do that has to be the goal. ‘We are in precarious times, nobody knows when crowds are going to get back. The board run this club prudently and they are very good at what they do. ‘No money will be blown. We only get 4,000 fans, so it’s not sustainable to invest in the playing budget continually.’