McGhee up for Cup replay

Feb 11 2009 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee was content to accept a replay after Saturday’s draw with St Mirren at Fir Park in the Homecoming Scottish Cup.

The Steelmen came from behind after a battling performance against St Mirren and the gaffer said that he was pleased to still be in the tie.

He explained: “Certainly at 1-0 down I would have taken a draw. We struggled in the first half after we lost the goal, we couldn’t get any rhythm at all.”

“Once we got the equaliser with plenty time left you then think ‘Well, you never know.’ Then they get a free-kick with seconds to go and you think ‘Oh God,’ so your mind sways.”

However, overall the ’Well boss was happy with the draw and said: “It would have been hard on St Mirren had we got a winning goal.”

Difficult conditions didn’t make things easy for the ’Well as both sides struggled to come to terms with the poor Fir Park pitch.

McGhee admitted: “In the first half when our play was breaking down, it was largely to do with the pitch. It slowed down our play.”

In an attempt to adapt to the poor playing surface, the Steelmen lined up with five across the midfield with the manager underlining how well the system has worked in the past.

He said: “We reshaped at halftime and it worked better. We beat Dundee United 4-0 a few weeks ago playing that way. Our instruction to the players was that we wanted the ball in behind St Mirren.

“At times you are forced to make a simple pass, and the pitch made it difficult to even do that.

“Maybe the formation is something we should have thought about, and maybe played a 4-4-2 from the beginning.”

The Fir Park boss also had a few words to say about new striker Cillian Sheridan, who made his debut for the Fir Park side, coming on for Keith Lasley at the break.

“Cillian has trained once in the gym with us and once for 45 minutes under the dome with us yesterday morning when it was falling on top of us,” said McGhee.

“We felt it was unfair on the lad to put that sort of pressure on him. He made a great contribution when he came on.”

McGhee also praised his goalscorer Stephen Hughes, who kept Motherwell in the tie. The manager said: “Stephen came up with a terrific finish, which we were grateful for.”

After a difficult 90 minutes, the gaffer was positive about the prospect of visiting the Buddies at their new home. The game is scheduled for Tuesday, February 17, with the ’Well boss expecting another close encounter.

McGhee said: “Every game we have played against St Mirren this season has been a close game and this will be no different, It’s a hard one to call. There are some good teams not in the cup, so we have a hard game going to the new St Mirren Park, which we look forward to.”