STEVEN HAMMELL didn’t perform his press duties after Motherwell’s defeat to Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup, leaving the ground soon after full-time.
He remains Motherwell manager at the time of writing, but there was no disguising the will of the 3000 or so travelling supporters after watching their team go out of the tournament with a whimper in Kirkcaldy.
A banner unveiled by the Motherwell fans at Fir Park prior to the match had read ‘We’ll bring the support, you bring the performance’, but only the supporters lived up to their side of that particular bargain.
Raith Rovers manager Ian Murray had sympathy for his struggling counterpart after watching his side deservedly see off the supine Steelmen, and admitted he sensed their opponents were there for the taking.
“I knew Motherwell were fragile with where they are in the league,” Murray said. “I don’t enjoy seeing that to be honest. We’ve all been there.
“I feel for Steven, I played with him for Scotland youths,
“I take no joy in seeing where Motherwell are but we all know what football is like. It’s very fickle. I hope they recover quickly and pick up points.”
There are no such worries for Murray’s team, who are now 12 games unbeaten, though he faced the press sporting a flesh wound sustained in the dressing room celebrations.
“The boys are going nuts in there!” he said. “The lights went off for a couple of minutes and there were arms and boots getting thrown about. I think one of them caught me. But I’ll take that all day.
“I’m really happy. There was only a 10-15 minute spell in the second half when we looked a wee bit ropy.
“But even then it wasn’t as if Jamie (MacDonald) had many saves to make. There was one off the bar that came off a defender.
“We were disappointed to lose the goal so early after half-time because it did change the momentum of the game.
“If we had just been a little bit stronger we could have seen the game out in a more emphatic way.
“But look, if someone had offered me 2-0 up at half-time, 3-1 up with a few minutes left I would have bit their hand off.
“I am delighted to be in the next round of the cup. The players deserve it, they have been excellent this season.
“They’ve shown real character and desire this week.”
