Motherwell boss Gannon is relishing Hamilton derby challenge

Nov 5 2009 By Andrew Weston

JIM Gannon believes Hamilton will be tough opposition when he takes his team to New Douglas Park on Saturday and has praised their Lanarkshire rivals for turning their season around.

Gannon’s Motherwell sit nine points above Hamilton in fourth position in the SPL and have lost just one of their first ten league matches so far.

But despite their rivals languishing in 11th position the 41-year-old does not expect an easy match as the first quarter of the season draws to a close.

He said: “Hamilton have re-energised themselves and are looking really solid at the moment and they look like they have got goals in them.”

“In the last game against St Mirren they played what looked like a 5-4-1.

“They make themselves very solid and they have got some experienced defenders.

“That’s the platform for their success.”

He continued: “The majority of the goals they have scored so far this season have been from set plays.

“They are increasingly competitive at this level and that is credit to their manager and players for what they have achieved and the way they have turned things around.”

The former Stockport County boss admitted to relishing local derbies and recalled competing against Manchester City, Oldham and Bury during his tenure at The Hatters as both player and boss.

And he feels this weekend’s game will be a lot different to any other he has experienced during his short spell in Scotland saying: “Of course you treat it as another game but there is sometimes a different dimension to the matches in terms of the energy of the team.

“There is a lot more energy in the crowd and the games are generally a lot more high tempo.

“It won’t change any way that we approach it but I’m sure the players will be aware that there will be a little more sparkle in the game than normal.”

He added: “The lads have had a tough period and we have tried to re-energise them this week to get them up to the same sort of standard and same sort of energy levels that they had last Saturday.”

The gaffer would not be drawn on who he will select for the first derby of the season but admitted he may deploy Lukas Jutkiewicz and John Sutton up front after impressing in the 1-0 victory over Hearts last Saturday.

“The way they performed it will be very difficult for me to leave them out,” he said.

“They don’t seem a natural partnership.

“They are both big players.

“But I was delighted with the way they worked the lines well and not just the way they combined with each other but the way they brought other people into the game.”

He continued: “I was really delighted for John Sutton.

“It took him a while to get into the game but he looked really strong as the game went on.

“It worked well on the day in terms of what we were trying to achieve against Hearts.

“We have not fully assessed how we are going to play against Hamilton but certainly they are at the forefront of my mind.”