Motherwell defender Stephen O’Donnell’s appearance in last night’s 2-0 win for Scotland saw the defender write his name into the Fir Park history books, becoming the player to have earned the most Scotland caps during his time with the Steelmen.
O’Donnell won his 13th cap in the World Cup qualifier at Gampden, overtaking George Stevenson on 12, who had held the club record since October 1934.
O’Donnell in action againt Austria (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
The full-back made his debut for Scotland against Israel in October 2020 and has gone on to appear against Slovakia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Israel, Austria, Israel, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, England, Croatia, Austria and Denmark – including playing at Euro 2020 as Scotland ended their wait to appear at a major tournament.
With his 13th cap now tucked away, O’Donnell sits ahead of Motherwell legends such as Willie Redpath, Ian St John, Andy Weir and Willie Pettigrew in terms of the number of caps he won while at Fir Park.
O’Donnell faces some real competition for a regular starting berth in future games though with Old Firm duo Nathan Patterson and Anthony Ralston pushing – Patterson recently taking over as first-choice for Steve Clarke’s side.
Despite some criticism of O’Donnell for his performances at times, the Motherwell star has had some impressive showings in Dark Blue and Motherwell chief executive Alan Burrows paid tribute to the defender, tweeting: “Huge congratulations to Stephen, not only on his performance tonight, but for breaking such a long-standing record with Motherwell. An outstanding achievement.”
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