Tony Watt was in crutches just a week prior to his return from injury against Hibs – but the Motherwell forward insists he was happy to play through the pain barrier.
‘Well Manager Graham Alexander had ruled him out of Saturday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final match with Hibs but Watt made it to the bench after light training 24 hours beforehand. He was inspirational too, Motherwell clawing the tie back to 2-2 and extra-time after his introduction and goal before a heartbreaking 4-2 loss on penalty kicks.
Watt is hopeful of getting through with his injury until the summer: “I’d been on crutches a week ago. I spoke to the physio and to be fair he was good with me. He was being really cautious. I told him I was happy to risk it. It’s been sore. It’s still sore.
“I trained on Friday for 45 mins or an hour and it was sore. I just took a few paracetamol and got through it. I strapped it up. I was happy to help the lads. I spoke to the gaffer and said: ‘Look I’m happy to risk it’.
“It’s a problem with my heel. I landed on it on the astroturf and I hurt it. Hopefully I can keep managing it, get through to the summer and rest it. It’s just one of those I’ve not been able to shake away.”
Motherwell were left to lament an offside goal as Jackson Irvine’s strike that put Hibs 2-0 up could have been disallowed. But Watt isn’t dwelling too much on that after what unfolded, hailing Alexander’s results-driven methods which has had the Fir Park club pick up the most Premiership points outside the Old Firm since his arrival in January.
Watt said: “He (Alexander) has come in and been a results machine. I said that to him the other day. I said: ‘You’ve had some record’. He corrected me and said ‘We’ve had some record’. I got put in my place. He likes a togetherness, he likes a team spirit, and the boys like it. Hopefully we can strengthen in the summer and go again.
“We know we are safe this season, but we all have higher ambitions. Hopefully we can push on and do well. We got to the quarter-final of the cup and played a very good Hibs team, one of the best Hibs team in years, and got beat on pens. And pens are a lottery. There’s no VAR and I wouldn’t want it either. You win some, you lose some.
“Thankfully we got back in it. I’m not going to dwell on it. If it’s offside, it’s offside. It’s not as if it was an equaliser. It was to go 2-0 up and we eventually clawed it back. It’s just what happens. That’s football. You don’t want VAR do you?
“I was proud of the boys. We showed a lot of commitment and character to get back. It shows that we’ve got a real spirit between us and we should be doing that a lot more often. That’s just us. That’s Motherwell as a club. Nobody gives us a chance when we’re playing against so-called bigger teams.
“But we believe in ourselves and that’s enough. We’ve got people behind us who believe in us so you can’t ask for much more. The boys showed good commitment. Since I’ve been out, the boys have been brilliant and have picked up great results. We were just so close to Hampden, but unfortunately we need to pack up and go again.”
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