Kelly keen to keep calling the shots at Motherwell
On-loan keeper loving life at Fir Park
AS his players will agree, it takes quite the pipes to outdo David Martindale, his roar rather apt for that of a man managing the Lions. But even he found himself glancing sheepishly towards Liam Kelly at times on Saturday.
The Motherwell goalkeeper was a commanding presence for his side, nipping away at anyone who would listen, and right from the start demanding his team-mates “f***ing do it”.
Thankfully, for their sakes, they did just that, seeing off Livingston in a convincing 3-1 win to take another stride towards Premiership safety.
While never overly troubled – a fine save from Matej Poplatnik aside – the Queens Park Rangers loanee was impressive and admits, with his future still uncertain, he is open to a move away from his parent club.
“All I know is I want to be playing,” the former Rangers goalkeeper said. “I love it here at Motherwell. [A move to Motherwell] is something I wouldn’t say no to. I’ve still got two-and-a-half years left [on his contract at QPR], so the power is not in my hands but I’ll be pushing to play.
“I’m their player, but I’m loving my time at Motherwell. Don’t get me wrong, first and foremost I’m a QPR player and I need to respect that.
“Whatever they say will probably go, but if I’m not going to be playing at QPR,
I’ll try to go somewhere and wouldn’t say no to Motherwell.”
If Kelly, who has previous experience of Scotland squads, does make a switch to North Lanarkshire for the start of next season, he is in no doubt he will be a better goalkeeper than the one who left for London in 2019.
“I’ve improved by being down south, in terms of my game management and I’m more relaxed,” the 25-year-old said.
“Nothing is that much of a drama, I’m more chilled out. As much as I talk all the time, I don’t talk for the sake of it.
“I’ve always been vocal and spoke a lot, maybe when I was younger I spoke a lot of rubbish for the sake of it; now I just speak to help the players get into the best position.
“We can’t get top six now, it’s important for our own pride and the rest of the season that we perform.
“We’ve got a lot of fans watching us so everyone has something to play for
“When we play Kilmarnock in a few weeks, they’ll be fighting for their lives.”
While the atmosphere around Motherwell – who said goodbye to the legendary Ian St John with a minute’s applause before kick-off – is suddenly febrile, it is a different story at Livingston.
Saturday’s loss was the sixth in succession and, while unlikely, there is a chance they could miss out on the top six after being in such a certain position just weeks ago.
For defender Jack Fitzwater, whose header briefly threatened to haul Livingston back into the game before Christopher Long added a third to Devante Cole’s brace, that simply can’t be allowed to happen.
“We don’t want to throw it away,” the Englishman said. “We have got ourselves into a great position and at the moment that’s what we are doing.
“It feels like we are a little bit low on confidence, especially with the cup final loss thrown in.
“We have to get back to basics, as simple as that. We have to try and grind a result out next Saturday.
“It’s up to us as players. We are all good players, everyone knows that. You don’t go on an unbeaten run like we had for nothing.
“Everyone has to sit down, reflect, have a chat and, ultimately, put it right next Saturday.”
IT WAS a rare home victory and precious three points against a team close to them in the table – and it came with a classic Billy Mckay double. Those three facts were enough to crack a smile across the Ross County striker’s face after their 3-2 win against Kilmarnock.
Crucially, victory took the Dingwall team four points above Killie with a game in hand as well as injecting a touch of enjoyment and a healthy dose of optimism for the survival fight ahead in McKay’s personal season from hell.
Few players have enjoyed the absence of fans, the Covid restrictions, the lack of team bonding and, in the case of County, Hamilton and now Kilmarnock, the slow dive towards relegation disaster. For Mckay, though, one simple fact has heightened the misery – he just can’t seem to keep his place in the team.
“First of all, it was nice to play. To get a couple of goals and help the team win was perfect,” said Mckay, who was joined on the scoresheet by substitute Leo Hjelde with Kyle Lafferty grabbing his first goals for Kilmarnock, one a penalty.
“It’s massive. If they had got the result, it wouldn’t be looking great, but now we’ve put a little gap between us and the bottom two. We want to kick on from here. It is seven games to go and it’s good momentum for us as well to go and get another result against Hibs.
“It hurts massively not being in the team. I’ve not enjoyed a minute of this season. I’ve been in and out of the team and, as a player at my age, I just want to play football. I think you could see today, my hunger is still there and my drive is still there to score goals.
“Hopefully, I can play as much as possible in what remains of this season and help the team stay in the Premiership.”