THIS IS WATT WE’RE ALL ABOUT
Tony reckons Well are getting just deserts
Tony Wat t insists Motherwell are finally getting the rewards their play deserves after enduring a rocky start to the season.
The hitman is convinced Well have finally turned the corner and they intend to prove it by beating in- form Aberdeen at Pittodrie this afternoon.
Stephen Robinson’s side hadn’t won a league game before they beat St Johnstone 1- 0 at Fir Park last weekend and they followed that up by dumping Coleraine out of the Europa League following a penalty shoot- out on Thursday.
That Euro success came in spite of playing with 10 men for the whole of extra time.
And Watt said: “For the most part, our performances were better than our results earlier in the season and we were unlucky in quite a few games.
“However, I think that’s behind us now after the results in the last week.
“It feels like a corner has been turned and we’re focused and ready to take on Aberdeen.
“They also had an awkward start to the season but they’ve now won six on the bounce so they’ll be confident going into this one and so will we.
“We’re not scared of any opponent and we showed that when we gave a good account of ourselves at Celtic Park last month. We’re going to Pittodrie to try to win.
“Aberdeen have strengthened their squad and they have a great midfield but so do we. So why shouldn’t we expect to beat the likes of them and Hibs?
“They’re the teams we want to be in and around in the battle for third and fourth place and, to do that, we need to get results against them.
“Yes, we had extra time in Ireland and we didn’t get back home early on Friday morning but travelling to Aberdeen won’t be a problem for us.
“We’re professionals and we should be able to look after ourselves and recover properly in time for this game.”
Former Celtic and Scotland star Watt would also like to open his Premiership account for the season after notching all his goals in Europe so far.
He scored in the 5-1 win over Glenavon at Fir Park and then put his side 2- 0 up against Coleraine before converting his spot-kick in the nerve-shredding shootout. Yet even after Bevis Mugabe was red- carded for conceding the penalty which took the tie into extra time, Watt never feared the worst.
The 26-year-old said: “I stayed confident after the ordering-off.
“The fact is that, after all the work we did in pre-season, we’re one of the fittest teams in the country and you’d never have known we were playing with 10 men during extra time because we were by far the better team.
“We probably should have closed the game out after going 2-0 up but it wasn’t the case that we thought the game was finished. You have to give them some credit as well. ”
Watt was happy to step up to the plate in the shoot- out.
He said: “I was certain that I was going to score.
“It helped me that I’d missed during a shoot- out against St Mirren in the Scottish Cup last season so I knew what not to do.
“Of course, our goalkeeper
Trevor Carson was the hero of the night with his three saves – he was absolutely brilliant.”
Watt is always remembered for his goal for Celtic against Barcelona eight seasons ago but he’s determined to have more great European nights.
On Thursday he’ll be involved as Motherwell face Hapoel Beer Sheva in Jerusalem in the Europa League third qualifying round.
He said: “We want to play against good teams – and Hapoel were certainly that when they played Celtic a few years ago – so this is an exciting time for all of us at the club.”