BETFRED CUP FINAL SPECIAL
RYAN BOWMAN had toiled long and hard through a drought to try and impress the new manager. So that if aptitude didn’t shine through, then at least attitude did. So, when Stephen Robinson signed off for the summer on the sour note of attacking a goal celebration, it was fair for Bowman to conclude this was a boss who simply did not fancy anything about him.
‘I was definitely worried at that stage that he just didn’t like my style,’ admits Bowman. Letting off some steam on the final day of the season after netting a consolation penalty in defeat to relegated Inverness Caley Thistle was misconstrued by Robinson as ‘embarrassing’ posturing. This from a player with one goal in 23 previous Motherwell outings.
Bowman might have considered there wasn’t much point in coming back for more and fighting this losing battle. However, the 25-year-old had dragged himself up through the English non-league and lower divisions the hard way.
Admitting Fir Park defeat, walking away from the opportunities to play against Celtic and Rangers and turning his back on the spotlight of top-flight action in Scotland at no stage came into his consideration. Even after Robinson informed that he was going shopping for forwards.
‘The manager told me he was bringing in another striker and asked what my thoughts were,’ revealed Bowman. ‘I said I had a year left on my contract and I wanted to give it another go. I worked really hard in preseason, came back in and scored a couple. And now with the success the club has had, I’m really grateful he has kept faith in me.
‘When he had a go at me at Inverness, what I did after scoring was more relief than me being big-time. It was only my second goal of the season and it was me just saying: “Phew. Finally”. He told me he didn’t want celebrating at 3-2 down. He was right. Hopefully I’ve won him over since. I think I’ve started well this season and hopefully that continues. He seems to be happy with me.’
So happy, in fact, that Bowman is being trusted on a weekly basis by Robinson to partner star man Louis Moult in attack for the league top six and Betfred Cup finalist surprise packages of the season. Bowman has never played in a Cup final.
At Darlington, Hereford, Torquay, York and Gateshead, opportunities to play in front of 52,000 fans at a national stadium tend to be thin on the ground. His old Hereford boss, top Motherwell scout Martin Foyle, did not forget the impression Bowman could cut it at a higher level after selling him to York in 2013. Three years later, he became one of the rough diamonds Foyle has furnished Motherwell for Fir Park purpose.
The move has proved a life-changer for Bowman, albeit following a maiden season of struggles in Scotland under Mark McGhee then Robinson.
‘Coming to Motherwell has been a different level for me,’ enthused the Cumbrian. ‘When I look at the Scottish clubs in opposition, you look forward to games against them. That was a bit different in the nonleague, there were hardly any fans there.
‘Barring one or two, the games attract a maximum of 2,000. Pitches aren’t up to a standard, nor the surroundings. But that’s what I was used to.
‘No disrespect to Conference and League Two but the stadiums aren’t great compared to Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and, of course, Hampden. ‘Obviously playing Rangers and Celtic in front of 50,000 is different. So I’m going to relish it. Once you’ve had this experience at Motherwell you don’t want to go back to that level and be doing your own washing and stuff like that. And it’s the same for Louis Moult and Elliott Frear who played at that level. We appreciate it more, it makes you hungrier for it. ‘Maybe if I’d pulled my finger out a bit more as a youth player, I could’ve played higher. People told me when I was a youth at Carlisle that I had potential for the Championship. Maybe that’s down to me or bad luck but it hasn’t happened.’
Good fortune from the fixture list had helped Motherwell avoid 64-game unbeaten Celtic so far this season. Now they face the Invincibles three times in seven days at three different venues. Dundee United were barely the same club, never mind team again, after colliding with a weaker Celtic on four occasions in three competitions in 14 days in March 2015. Bowman has no fears about Motherwell wilting. A team he identifies as wrongly labelled over-physical in the wake of Rangers being worried out of it at Hampden, Motherwell have just the right dose of determination to ruffle the feathers of a bigger name. Aberdeen can testify to that, too, following their quarter-final exit by 3-0 at Fir Park and last weekend’s Pittodrie defeat.
‘The tempo is quicker in the Premiership here, you don’t get any time on the ball, you always have someone closing you down and I think it’s more physical,’ noted Bowman. ‘The Conference and League Two are physical and the higher you go in England, there are more ball players.
‘But this level has both. You have ball players and physicality. So when we win the physical battle, we like to play. And we have the players who can do that. Everyone in the team — even the ones on the bench who come on — knows their jobs, knows what we’re trying to do.
‘Celtic are obviously in really good form going into it. But so are we in our own way. We feel like it’s whoever wants it more on the day. Someone has got to beat them — so why can’t it be us?
‘We could win a cup at the end of it, so it’s massive. I’ve never been in a cup final before and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since we beat Rangers.’