Samson takes his chance with both hands in win against Hearts
Samson’s appearance on Saturday was more than just helping solve a temporary problem. Ripley will probably return to Middlesbrough in the summer creating a vacancy between the posts. Samson is out of contract but talks are underway about extending his stay into the new season.
He is aware that manager Mark McGhee will bring in another goalkeeper regardless of whether he re-signs or not, making it no guarantee that he will start the new campaign as Motherwell’s No.1. But he is certainly tempted to hang around and give it a try.
“It’s something me and the manager have spoken about,” he added. “We had a conversation a couple of months ago and spoke again last week. We’ll sort something out and see what happens from there. But I want to play games. I wanted to play games this year even though it’s not been the case.
“The ideal scenario would have been I was there and Connor would have gone back to Middlesbrough in January which would have allowed me to go in the team. That never happened and Connor has played well, but next season I’ll be looking to be No.1 at the football club, stay in the team and do as well as I can. As far as I’m aware Connor is going back but you never know in football.
“But the club need another goal- keeper whether it is myself and someone else, if they lose one they need another in. Dan Twardzik left the club as well so it’s up to the manager, but certainly I’ll be wanting to play.
“I’ll have a conversation with him as I like to think I’ve been professional, done my job and supported the team as well as I can. The manager told me he knew he could rely on me if he put me in and hopefully he sees it that he already has a No.1 here next year.”
Motherwell’s win effectively ended any prospects Hearts had of pipping Aberdeen to second place. Having had the Pittodrie club in their sights for some time, the poverty of their performance was a huge disappointment for those involved.
“With Aberdeen losing on Friday night it was a great chance for us,” said midfielder Don Cowie. “We’ve talked over the last few weeks about how our target was them and so when you get that bonus of them losing it was up to us to go and take advantage. But we just weren’t good enough on the day.
“We could have put extra pressure on them as we still have to play Aberdeen in a couple of weeks. That could have made it very interesting if we had won. But we never. We have to accept Motherwell were the better team on the day.”