Liam Kelly has been left dejected over another bad Motherwell performance at Fir Park as the QPR loanee lamented a 3-0 loss to St Johnstone.
The goalkeeper has been one of Motherwell’s better players since arriving on loan from QPR in January but he was left helpless on Saturday. A Guy Melamed double and Jason Kerr strike sealed another poor day for the Steelmen and an easy Saints win.
Melamed helped seal an easy win. (Photo by Ross Parker/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Coming into this fixture off the back of a 4-1 home loss to Hamilton Accies, Kelly wasn’t happy after another disappointing defeat: “The manager told us all week how important the game was and a lot of us were hurting from last week, but we didn’t want to take that into this game, doing anything erratic, anything stupid – just play the game for what it was.
“But we’ve been soft, passive – everything the manager doesn’t want us to be. Everything we’ve not been prior to Hamilton. I don’t know what to say, I’m just embarrassed by the whole thing.
“When you go on the pitch, it’s got to mean absolutely everything to you. It’s inexcusable, we can’t defend that performance. We got what we deserved. It was horrible. The first half was so bad and I’m really embarrassed to be honest.
The QPR loanee was left embarrassed. (Photo by Alex Morton/Getty Images)
“We never started the game, never played any of the game to be honest. That team out there was more than good enough to – I’m not saying to win – but to deliver a performance better than that.
“It’s the same players who were training at a much higher level all week, myself included, I’m not any different to anyone else. All 11 of us need to take a long hard look at ourselves because it’s not good enough. There wasn’t a reaction to last week.”
There are no excuses from the QPR loanee despite Motherwell’s lengthy injury list that ruled several key stars out the weekend’s match. Now facing two tough away tests to St Mirren and Hibs this week, Kelly says Motherwell must prove the quality that had them connected with a top six finish only recently, now sitting ninth in the Premiership.
Kelly has performed well for Motherwell. (Photo by Scott Baxter/Getty Images)
He said: “We are where we are and we’re the only ones that can dig us out of it. We’re not thinking about anything other than the St Mirren game [on Wednesday night] because that’s huge for us now.
“I can’t speak for other people, I don’t know what their feelings are. But this has to mean absolutely everything to you. A few weeks ago we were being spoken about in terms of the top six. But if we play like that, and the way we did last week, we’ve got no chance of making the top six.
“You can see how good we can be. If there weren’t any signs of us getting any better then I’d be [really concerned]. The performances against Kilmarnock, Ross County, Dundee United, Rangers – we know we are a good team – but the last two weeks have been really poor.”
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