Motherwell confident of snatching Ibrox result

CARL McHUGH admits Motherwell failed to kick on after their 3-3 draw with Rangers at Fir Park earlier this season. The Steelmen had lost their opening two league games before picking up a point against Steven Gerrard’s men in August. Instead of the result helping them turn a corner, they went on to pick up just four points from a possible 18. Things are now looking up for Stephen Robinson’s side after back-to-back victories against St Mirren and Dundee, meaning they will travel to Ibrox full of confidence tomorrow. ‘We didn’t imagine the season to pan out the way it has, but that’s football,’ said McHugh. ‘People just look at the results, but if you look at the games it’s not as if we were getting battered every week. ‘There’s been really small margins in the games that have gone against us. We feel as if we have a good squad and we’ve shown that in the last two games with two really good performances. ‘We’re only 11 games in, there’s a long way to go and a lot of football to be played. It’s how you finish that matters. We’re confident we can still go on and have a really good season. ‘I don’t think those two wins give us a free hit, there’s an expectation in our dressing room that we should go to Ibrox and get a result. It’s definitely been a relief to get those results, though.’ Not only did Motherwell pick up six points last week, they also kept their first two clean sheets of the season. As a defender, the number of goals conceded has been a major concern for McHugh, but his side will be aiming for a third straight shut-out this weekend. ‘That’s something that has really hurt us this year,’ he said. ‘We haven’t kept the clean sheets. That was our foundation last year but we’ve had injuries and changes in defence which haven’t helped. It’s something we’ll look to improve on.’