Hampden Main man sinks Dons
PATRICK ROBERTS wants to muscle Rangers out of the Scottish Cup after revealing he had to calm down his gym sessions because he was getting too bulky.
The Celtic star was in danger of looking more Arnold Schwarzenegger than Bastian Schweinsteiger as he built up his physique while recovering from a hamstring injury.
Roberts realised he was over compensating in the gym for his inability to run during his three-month rehab and that it could hamper his pace and agility.
So he cut back the power lifting and focused on the areas he really needed to hone.
Roberts said: “For the first few weeks of rehab I was doing no cardio exercise like running. I was purely in the gym.
“I was battering it with the weights but then I said to the physio team that I didn’t want to be so big. So I slowed it down after those first few weeks.
“Don’t get me wrong, it was good for the self esteem – my physique looked alright! But I realised I couldn’t run so had to slow it down.”
“I’ve done the hamstring a few times so I needed to be right this time when I came back.
“I wanted the best possible help to be 100 per cent fit again and now I’m ready to crack on.” His words could ring ominously for Rangers as Roberts joins a list of key players now very much back in the frame after injury lay-offs. Leigh Griffiths, Stuart Armstrong (above) and Kieran Tierney are all back in business after the early part of 2018 was disrupted by significant lay-offs. And Roberts is certainly eager to make up for lost time. He said: “It has been a long time coming – but I’m raring to go now. “I’ve had a few games off the bench but it was important to get a start last weekend (in the 2-1 win against Hamilton) so I can kick on from there. “I managed 85 minutes, the first time I’d done over half a game since October. So now I feel ready for the run-in to the end of the season. “It would be something to go back-to-back winning the Treble but there’s a long way to go and tough games ahead. It will be exciting. “You never get tired of winning.” MOTHERWELL goal hero Curtis Main insists the same belief that helped them sweep Aberdeen aside at Hampden can take them all the way to Scottish Cup glory.
Main struck twice as Motherwell beat the Dons 3-0 to reach their second cup final of the season.
The Betfred Cup runners-up have now secured seven victories over top-flight opposition in the cup – two of them against the Dons – and Main was confident they would do it again.
“Before we went out, the dressing room was rocking,” the former Middlesbrough and Portsmouth striker said. “We all had a real belief in ourselves. We know what we are capable of, we have shown it many times this season.”
Main added: “We are not there to make the numbers up. We are in the final because we deserve to be in the final. “So when that day comes around, we will go out with the same hunger and the same drive and we will look to lift that cup.”
Main tapped home a 20th-minute opener and Motherwell were two ahead through Ryan Bowman two minutes later.
And Main put the result beyond any doubt midway through the second half when he charged down Kari Arnason’s clearance and raced through to finish high into the net.
“It was an age, that pitch is big,” he said. “It broke to me and I had the full half to run, but I took a couple of touches to steady myself and picked my spot. It’s hard to come back from 3-0 so that was a
special feeling.”