BARACLOUGH KEEN TO BRING NEW BLOOD
IAN BARACLOUGH has warned his senior players at third-bottom Motherwell that he plans to bring in new faces to keep them on their toes. The 44-year-old has been in charge for just four matches but, after consecutive defeats to Hamilton and Aberdeen, he fears too many of his firstteam regulars have slipped into a comfort zone. He is unlikely to have any fresh recruits in time for today’s trip to Dundee but, with the team just six points above the play-off place, Baraclough has been told by the Fir Park board that funds are available. ‘I’d like to bring in one or two fresh faces as it would be good for the whole group,’ said Baraclough. ‘At the moment, they are crying out for competition. ‘There are possibly areas where people think they are fairly safe and I don’t want people to feel that. ‘We are working feverishly to try to bring in the right bodies. We don’t just want to bring anybody in, though. It has to be the right person and the right character.’ The SFA’s decision to rescind the red card given to defender Stephen McManus was a ray of light in a gloomy week for Motherwell — as was Derby County’s agreement to extend centre-half Mark O’Brien’s loan until the end of the season. But their treatment room continues to resemble an A&E department on a Bank Holiday Friday. While Stuart Carswell has recovered from illness, Baraclough will again be without Simon Ramsden, Paul Lawson, Iain Vigurs, Craig Moore and Bob McHugh today. ‘If you add the injuries to the guys Motherwell lost in the summer, then there are six or seven first-team players missing,’ said the Englishman (left). ‘But I’m not one to bleat
about injuries. There are more than enough fit bodies and enough quality to push our way up the table. ‘The players know they have underperformed and there is a desire to get us out of the mess we’re in.’ Motherwell began the Baraclough era with wins over St Mirren and Partick Thistle. But top scorer John Sutton, who scored the winner in both games, says the Steelmen can’t rely on Saints and Ross County — who are joint bottom — to keep shipping points. ‘We could have ended up bottom if we’d lost to St Mirren and we showed a lot of character in that game,’ he said. ‘Having played Saints and Ross County recently, we realise they’re eventually going to go on a run. ‘We can’t go into games thinking they’re going to lose again. We can’t depend on that. ‘It has always been said we’ve punched above our weight but now we’re punching well below it.’ Meanwhile, veteran striker Peter MacDonald has left Dundee after failing to appear regularly under Paul Hartley this season.