Motherwell ace Nicky lays down the law

Dec 24 2012 By Andrew Weston

Nicky Law

Midfielder Nicky Law says Motherwell need to improve their defending if they want to mount a challenge for second place this season.

The Steelmen are scoring plenty of goals but have kept just two clean sheets in all competitions this term.

On Friday night they conceded two first half goals at St Mirren which cost them the match and Law reckons their sloppiness is continually leaving them with a mountain to climb.

“Ultimately poor defending cost us (on Friday),” he said. “We keep doing it week in week out, giving ourselves too much to do. On some occasions, we have got away with it, like at Hibernian, but it catches up with you. We cant keep going 1-0 or 2-0 down every week and expect to come back.”

He continued: “As a team we know we have got to work hard to stop crosses coming into the box. It’s a case of marking our men and getting tight on them, also not letting players get so many free shots on goal. We couldn’t get the goals we needed (against St Mirren) but had plenty of chances. They will have been delighted with the way they defended but we were disappointed with how we defended collectively.”

Law and his team-mates will look to get back to winning ways this afternoon (Wednesday) at Fir Park when they take on Aberdeen for the fourth time this season.

The Well have failed to register a single victory against the Dons and suffered cup heartbreak
earlier this month losing 2-1 at home. Former Rotherham player Law admits they will be looking to exact revenge on this occasion.

“We feel as though we owe them one,” the 24-year-old admitted. “Aberdeen are a really good solid side who got their tactics spot on playing 3-4-3 in the Scottish Cup. They are a big strong team who defend well and can hurt you on the counter-attack. It should be a good atmosphere.”

He added: “Our home form is something we need to improve in general and, last year around Christmas time, we managed to do that. Hopefully that happens again.”

Well have back-to-back home games this week with Kilmarnock the visitors on Saturday and Law is hoping for six points which would keep them in the hunt for second spot.

“Apart from Celtic, everyone is aiming to finish second,” he said. “Games against Kilmarnock tend to be really open because of the way their manager likes to play. They will come and attack and try and score goals.

“The two home games are ones we look forward to before January which will be a big month for us with some of the players’ futures in doubt. If we can hold on to the squad it can be an exciting end to the season.”