The last couple of games have been tough for Motherwell – but Stephen O’Donnell won’t panic over the Fir Park club’s latest results as they fight for Premiership survival.
Graham Alexander’s men have lost 4-1 to Hamilton Accies and 3-0 to St Johnstone, both at Fir Park, in their last two Premiership matches. It leaves them ninth and four points off bottom heading into tonight’s fixture away to St Mirren.
O’Donnell was sent off during the Hamilton match, 17-year-old Max Johnston coming in for him at right-back. It makes him one of the youngest starters in club history and the Scotland international was delighted for him.
He said: “I try not make a habit of it {getting sent off}. In my career, I’ve been fortunate enough to play quite a lot, I’ve been sent off once before. You’re helpless up in the stand and I’ve got a young talented player coming through. If I make a habit of that then I could find myself in the stand more often that not.
“It was great for young Max to get his opportunity and I thought he did well in a very difficult game with how it panned out. I’m delighted for him but it’s not something I want to make a habit of.
(Ross MacDonald / SNS Group / Getty Images)
“He’s got all the right attributes but he’s only young so you don’t want to put pressure on people for no reason.
“He’s got a lot of talent and I hope he keeps working hard because he’s got the chance to do very well in the game.”
O’Donnell is aware that Motherwell need to start picking up results but two bad results shouldn’t be a cause for major concern: “The natural fallout from the weekend is disappointment but it’s three points and I don’t think it needs to be more major that what it was – two defeats in a row.
“It’s not good but we’ve got the opportunity to make amends and get three points. If we don’t win it then it’s no dramas and we are in a position, which isn’t where we’d like to be , but it isn’t bad and better than where other boys are.
“If you’re saying that because we had two defeats we are going to get relegated, then you need to broaden your horizons, because we are in better form out of the bottom four or six. We’ve had a couple of bad results albeit heavier than we’d have liked.
“But it’s two defeats and six points we’ve lost and I don’t think there is anything to panic about – we were in great form before that. The only way we can show {our disappointment} is to go into the game with the right mindset to get three points against a good St Mirren side.
“They are where we maybe felt we should have been at the start of the season but we haven’t been good enough. The league doesn’t lie and we have to make sure that we put in a Motherwell performance that everyone can be proud of.
“There is not much that can be achieved when negativity is around. It can come into a club and fester and get very difficult to get out of it. It can make it a rut. I certainly don’t feel that’s the case with ourselves.
“And if you want to be negative and say we are looking for lifts, we have four or five players who are very close to coming back. The grass will grow again, so I’m sure getting the ball will be a bit easier. There’s lots of positivity.
“The manager is encouraging it. When I got sent off, I wanted to be in a bad mood. I let the side down, let myself down, let the club down, but you know he wants positivity. We are going to work hard and smile.”
O’Donnell was also pleased to see news on the return of fans this week, at least south of the border. It means that there could be a crowd in place for Scotland’s Euro 2020 match with England at Wembley and there’s renewed hope for supporters in the two Hampden clashes.
Having been a mainstay under Scotland boss Steve Clarke, he’s hoping to be there as a player: “I hope I am not one of the fans in the stand as I want to be involved. But I need to perform well. Everybody would love fans to be in the stadium.
“It’ll be incredible for the squad. Players won’t lack motivation but it would be a very nice lift for those who are fortunate to get tickets. It’s been a long, long time and I know the squads I have been in, we have had fans travelling to Peru and Mexico.
“These are friendlies that are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and if they weren’t to get to any of the Euro games after such a tough year, that would be disappointing. All of us have watched it for years, you see the big screens in the squares.
“While I doubt that will be the case, we hope that it can be as party-like as possible. The fans would take a 1-0 win if they were sitting in the house but I’m sure they would prefer it slightly more if they had a couple of beers in hand.”
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