KELLY SEES NO EXCUSE FOR ‘EMBARRASSING’ EFFORT’

MOTHERWELL goalkeeper Liam Kelly was embarrassed by Saturday’s three-goal thumping at home to St Johnstone and insists a nightmare casualty list is no excuse for such a dreadful performance. The Fir Park side had 17 players out through injury, illness or suspension and made four changes from the side which had gone down 4-1 on their own patch to Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton. However, the on-loan QPR player is clear when stating that nothing can be used as mitigation for such an atrocious display. Motherwell had one shot over the 90 minutes while Saints had 22. ‘It was horrible. The first half was so bad,’ admitted Kelly. ‘I’m really embarrassed. We got what we deserved. ‘We never started the game. It was terrible and we can’t use injuries or whatever as any kind of excuse. ‘This is still the same group of players that have been playing and getting results. ‘The team out there was more than good enough. I’m not saying to win, but to certainly deliver a performance. It’s the same players that were training at a much higher level all week, myself included. We need to take a long hard look at ourselves because it’s nowhere near good enough. ‘There was no reaction to last week’s defeat (to Hamilton) and that is a concern. We were hurting from last week and all week the manager spoke of the importance of this game. But it was soft, passive, everything the manager doesn’t want us to be. ‘Everything we weren’t prior to Hamilton. I’m just embarrassed by the whole thing.’ Having won three out of four under new boss Graham Alexander ahead of losing to Accies, the Steelmen were being touted as a potential top-six side. Kelly insists that now has to stop. ‘I can’t speak for other people. I don’t know what their feelings are, but this has to mean everything to you,’ he said. ‘A few weeks ago, we were being spoken about in terms of the top six, but if we play like that, and the way we did last week, we’ve got no chance of making it. ‘We are where we are and we’re the only ones that can dig us out of it.’