Sore one for McHughas Well left to lick wounds

AT AROUND 12.35pm on Saturday afternoon, Carl McHugh thought his Scottish adventure was jinxed.

He was just around four minutes into what was only his fourth game back for Motherwell on the back of a near fivemonth nightmare when disaster appeared to strike again.

The Irishman, who was ruled out for the first chunk of the season as a result of a terrifying concussion on the opening day, was again left crumpled on the deck fearing the worst.

Motherwell’s match with Rangers had only just started when a horrific high kick from Michael O’Halloran caught McHugh high on the thigh, a reckless challenge that rightly saw the Rangers man walk.

“I haven’t seen it back on the replay but it was a sore one. I’ve had a few of them this season but it was the referee’s decision to send him off,” said the Well midfielder.

“It was quite high up on my leg so the ref must have seen it as a bad tackle.

“I’m really enjoying Scottish football. Obviously I had a bad start getting injured in the first league game of the season.

“But I’m enjoying being back since the Inverness game in December and hopefully I can kick on now.”

While it was a painful start to the game for McHugh, it was another agonising afternoon all round for the Lanarkshire club as they once again came up short against Rangers.

The Fir park side were pipped 2-1 at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup the previous weekend, but their gameplan was scuppered on Premiership duty on their own patch in this 2-0 reverse.

Having been given the upper hand with a man advantage, that initiative was wiped out on 27 minutes as Scott McDonald was sent packing for a late tackle on Kenny Miller.

In truth, Motherwell failed to adapt to going down to 10 in the same way as their visitors as a vital cog of the claret and amber machine was removed.

“From where I was, I thought it was harsh. It was a 50-50 tackle and I didn’t think there was much in it,” said McHugh. “We started well but the game got away from us after the second red card.

“When they went down to 10 men we were controlling the game at the time, but Scotty going off changed the game and swung it their way. In the second half they just created more than us.

“It’s disappointing again, we gave away poor goals towards the end but we just have to dust ourselves off and go again on Tuesday against Ross County.

“I don’t know why we were so pinned back in the second half, it’s something we’ll need to look at. I think thought we kept the ball well in the first half and we stretched them from side to side.

“But Rangers kept it better in the second half and we got pinned back as we found it hard to make passes to get us up the pitch.

“That’s something we’ll have to look at but I think there are positives to take from the first half – but it’s disappointing that we’ve come away with nothing.”

Meanwhile, SportTimes understands Motherwell will appeal McDonald’s red card.

Manager Mark McGhee was reluctant to comment on the incident at his post-match press conference before watching TV replays.

He then expressed his view that he believed the call by Willie Collum was wrong, and it’s now believed the club will seek to overturn the decision.

It means McDonald should be available for the Steelmen’s match in Dingwall tomorrow.