McHugh senses Bradford players’ spirit at Fir Park

Motherwell captain Carl McHugh senses the same spirit and momentum at Fir Park that he experienced on the way to the English League Cup final with Bradford.

McHugh aims to reach the Scottish version when he takes on Rangers tomorrow.

The Irishman scored in Bradford’s semi-final victory over Aston Villa as the bottom-tier club set up a 2013 Wembley meeting with Swansea after knocking out the likes of Watford, Wigan and Arsenal.

City lost 5-0 but returned to Wembley months later to secure promotion and McHugh wants to go one better in the Betfred Cup.

“We had a similar group to this year,” the 24-year-old said. “It was a real honest group, hard-working players.

“We played Arsenal, Wigan were in the Premier League, Aston Villa over two legs and we had no fear, we just went out and played our game. It was a great run, a great thing to be involved in, but ideally you want to win a cup when you get to the final.

“You look back on it and it was a great occasion but there is disappointment because you want to win a cup when you get that far.

“These occasions, semi-finals and finals, you only enjoy them if you win. There is no point coming here and looking for a day out. You want to win the game.”

Motherwell have scored 18 goals in the Betfred Cup since kicking off their season at Hampden against Queen’s Park. And McHugh feels the competition has been crucial.

“We had four games in the group which were massively beneficial for us,” the former Plymouth player said. “We got to gel, help the new players bed in. Rather than playing meaningless friendlies we were playing competitive games.”