HITTING FORM AT RIGHT TIME
Gallagher set for Coleraine Europa League test
Declan Gallagher reckons Motherwell have turned a corner ahead of their Europa League clash with Coleraine.
The Steelmen will travel to Northern Ireland to take on Oran Kearney’s side in the second round qualifier this Thursday.
And the skipper believes that securing their first Premiership win of the season against St Johnstone was key for ‘Well going into the crunch tie.
He told Press Sport: “The first league win is a monkey off our back now.
“Now we can look forward to the European tie and try to build on that result.
“We have taken the games to most teams but we changed it up against St Johnstone.
“We had kept possession but we switched it up a bit and let a team come and try to break us down.
“There is a lot we can take into Thursday.
“Everybody knew it was probably a must-win against St Johnstone to start building momentum, because we hadn’t picked up a league win yet.
“At the end of the day there was no need to panic. I seen a lot of people and fans getting on our back a bit, but realistically we have dominated the games and teams have sat in against us.
“We did that against St Johnstone and know we can give teams a bit of a taste of their own medicine.
“We can sit in and defend a lead; we have managed to do both sides of the game.
“We have been playing well and not getting results. St Johnstone wasn’t our best performance but it was important to get that result.”
‘Well remain bottom of the top flight by virtue of having scored fewer goals than Livingston, however Gallagher insists there can be a quick turnaround in their fortunes.
The 29-year-old thinks avoiding the drop will always be the first goal for Motherwell as they prepare to face Aberdeen on Sunday.
He added: “If you look at last year, even though we were in third place we could have went down to fifth after one game.
“It shows how tight it is in this league.
“It’s always tight and we are under no illusions that we are a third-placed team. We knew with the budget we work with that we would be fighting to stay in the league.
“That is always the foundations for Motherwell. We work hard and stay in the league and anything else is a bonus.”