Motherwell 'hopefully doing something' in transfer window as Steven Hammell hopes Arbroath win is turning point

Motherwell manager Steven Hammell has acknowledged that people were eager to see his side served up as a sacrificial Scottish Cup shock but praised the mentality of his players for coming though their fourth round tie against Arbroath with little ado.
Steven Hammell was pleased that Motherwell avoided a cup shock at Arbroath.Steven Hammell was pleased that Motherwell avoided a cup shock at Arbroath.
Steven Hammell was pleased that Motherwell avoided a cup shock at Arbroath.

Two goals from debutant Mikael Mandron ensured there was neither fuss nor surprise as Motherwell eased into Sunday evening’s Hampden draw for the fifth round. In truth, there was never a stage of this contest when their passage towards that looked under any real threat.

“A lot of people probably had this game down as an upset and we know that there will probably be upsets in this round but we wanted to make sure that it wasn’t us,” he said. “All in all I felt it was a thoroughly professional performance.

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“We know we are not doing as well as we should be and people thought that they would maybe look at Motherwell today because we might get beat and it would increase any pressure around us. So I don’t look at that. I put more pressure on myself than anyone on the outside ever could. We knew Arbroath would have a go at us but if you had offered me that the game would play out as it did I would have taken it.”

Hammell’s challenge now is to take the same energy and conviction into the cinch Premiership with the Motherwell manager optimistic that the nature of the win at Gayfield will provide some confidence into a squad that have toiled of late.

“It has to be [a turning point], he said. “We need some momentum and we said that to the players after the game. It is about using this and taking the confidence from winning the game. We need to take that into next week because it will be similar. We need to start picking up some points and we need to do it soon.”

Meanwhile, he was reluctant to elaborate on a deal for Japanese midfielder Riku Danzaki but confirmed that the club are still looking to bring in more January arrivals. “I can’t mention players attached to other teams but we are hopefully doing something,” he added.

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