MOTHERWELL V HIBS CUP SHOWDOWN EVERY PLAYER MUSTSTEPUP
O’Donnell:No-onesureofplaceafterpoorrun
Motherwell defender Stephen O’Donnell held his hands up for the error that gifted Dundee a Premiership point.
But the club captain insisted NOBODY in the squad will be guaranteed a start against Hibs in Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarterfinal after their run of 10 league games without a win.
The league’s basement boys took a point from Fir Park after Joe Efford’s first goal for Motherwell cancelled out Paul McMullan’s opener for Dundee, which was gift-wrapped by O’Donnell when he lost possession after failing to clear the ball properly in his own penalty area.
Asked about his mistake, Wishaw man O’Donnell said: “I’ve been involved in [losing] lots of goals, it’s just part of being a defender, but I certainly pride myself on my decision making on the ball.
“I did the hard bit, I defended it well and then, I don’t know what it was; a lack of concentration, sloppiness.
“I don’t have the answer, or else I wouldn’t have done it.
“It’s disappointing but we need to pick ourselves up.
“We’ve got a massive game coming up on Sunday.
“We’ve got a week of training and I know I’ll be doing everything I can to get myself in the team.
“I hope that is the attitude and mentality that everyone else has because I think after the run of games we’ve had, I don’t think there is anyone who thinks they should be playing.
“I think we should all be of the mindset that we need to prove to the manager that he can trust us and that we can go out and get a good performance and, more importantly, a result that will see us into a semi-final.
“It might be a nice breather away from the league because it has been poor.
“And, hopefully, a result on
Sunday can be a springboard to a positive last few games.”
Motherwell haven’t picked up a league win in 2022 so far and you’d have to go back to Boxing Day last year against Livingston for the last time they tasted victory in the Premiership.
A Scottish Cup fifth-round win over Aberdeen last month has been the only high point of a disappointing year so far.
Scotland i nternational O’Donnell added: “There was an opportunity for us to get back on track but we didn’t manage to do that.
“At the end of the day, at this time of the season it’s about small margins and my mistake cost us.”