‘WELL BEERS WEREONKEV
Booking fines paid for Xmas night, jokes star
Celtic fans were becoming frustrated as the Steelmen displayed their mettle in Glasgow on Sunday - and Motherwell striker Kevin van Veen says he’ll continue to run the risk of a lengthy beer tab if it helps his side.
The Dutchman had to put in a defensive shift during the ‘Well’s 1-0 Premiership loss to Celtic, which leaves them fifth.
Tom Rogic’s goal was enough to split the pair, as van Veen picked up a yellow card for delaying Parkhead goalkeeper Joe Hart in restarting play.
The Motherwell squad recently embarked on their Christmas night out, with van Veen’s yellow card fines paying for plenty of the drinks tab, having picked up 9 bookings in 19 matches.
And he said: “It’s a tough one. Celtic like to play it out quickly so my instructions were stand in front of the ball and don’t let them play it quickly. A lot of the time I’m the deepest player, so I pick up yellows.
“I will take that but it’s not good for me. This wasn’t a smart one.
“I don’t know how many drinks my yellow cards paid for.
“But I hope everyone enjoyed their beers on me. I’ve got some stupid yellow cards in there.”
The 30-year-old believes Motherwell did enough to take a point in Glasgow.
He added: “Obviously we are very disappointed in the dressing room as we believed we deserved more from this game.
“The goal before half-time is a tough one to take after all the effort we put in as a team. We made it tough for Celtic and sadly for us we leave empty handed.
“I think everyone deserves credit for their efforts.
“It ’s fr ustrating as I don’t think many people come here expecting to get something. But I think there was a chance we could have took a draw. That’s the frustrating thing. But we can be happy with our performance.
“I think we matched them all the way. Perhaps they had a little more quality, but we matched them, and perhaps overdone them on effort and desire.
Va n Ve e n w a s h a p p y t o frustrate the Hoops as much as possible, but hopes they come out with the right result when St Johnstone visit on Saturday.
He said: “I don’t think Celtic would have really enjoyed that game as we were sharp on them.
“Fans were booing them at times because we were frustrating them. That’s a compliment to us.
“Hopefully next time we play, we do the same, but come out as winners.”