The only people in North Lanarkshire who are desperately trying not to think about next weekend’s Betfred Cup final fall into two distinct categories; Rangers supporters or Motherwell squad members.
The Fir Park club go up against Celtic next Sunday at Hampden of course, but with a hugely difficult task facing his side first up today against Aberdeen, manager Stephen Robinson has banned all thoughts of League Cup glory.
Well, almost. The Motherwell boss allowed two of his squad members to briefly break away from preparations for the trip to Pittodrie during the week, and with very good reason.
Defender Richard Tait and midfielder Andy Rose visited two young fans of the club, Aston and Marcus Hope, aged eight and 10, who lost their father Brian unexpectedly in August. It has, of course, been a horrible time for the entire family, but in particular, for his two young sons.
Football has provided an escape, a brief release from their pain and suffering. And there’s nothing the two lads wanted more than to see their favourite team’s big day out at the national stadium.
Thanks to their great Uncle Derek, Motherwell and club sponsor McEwan Fraser stepped in to make that dream a reality, as the players presented the boys with those gold-dust tickets for Hampden. For Tait, the experience was both an uplifting and a humbling one, and it brought home to him just how much the whole occasion means to the town and the community.
“It was great,” Tait said. “I put on Twitter that both those lads made mine and Andy’s day with just the way they were.
“They’ve had a really hard time recently, so it was nice to go to their house and put a smile on their faces and invite them to the final.
“The family knew about it, but the little lads didn’t. They answered the door and Rosey said: ‘Marcus isn’t it?’ and the boy was like ‘How do you know my name?’
“It was brilliant. It was just good to go and do that, put a smile on their faces and invite them to the final. I think their family entered a competition which they won.
“It’s was nice to see how happy they were. It sums up what a family club this is. It does a lot for the town and the fans. It was nice to go and give something back to them and just to see them happy when they got the tickets.
“I don’t think as a player you properly realise what it means to fans sometimes.”
Tait believes that the trip to Aberdeen is the perfect warm-up for next week’s main event, with the players not only desperate to get three points, but to hang onto their jerseys.
“It probably helps that we’re away to the second-best team in the country,” he said.
“We know how well we have to perform to beat these teams. It’s a good pre-game to the final I guess. But we’re focused on this game and next week is out of our mind completely.
“I don’t think anyone wants to go there and save anything. I don’t think any of our team would ever do that. Put it this way – if you do that you aren’t going to play in the final.
“The lads who have the shirt will be dying to keep it. I’m sure they’ll put everything into it.
“This is the game before the final so if you go into it, play your best and win you’ll keep the shirt. It’s pretty simple really.
“If we play well and get a result up there that would give us all the confidence in the world to go into the next game and do the same.
“We’re fully focused on getting the points to help us push up the league.”
One man who is hoping to push his way into the reckoning for today’s game is Aberdeen striker Adam Rooney, who has found starts hard to come by this season with Stevie May being preferred to spearhead Derek McInnes’s attack.
“I went through this last season with Jayden Stockley, too,” Rooney said, “so it’s nothing new to me and I know when I get a chance I have to do well.
“ No-one is going to be happy sitting on the bench; we want to be playing games and that’s part of what comes with being at a big squad which is successful.
“It’s up to everyone to give their all and try to keep their place in the team.”
Dons captain Graeme Shinnie will sit the game out through suspension, but the effects of a virus which hit the club this week appear to have lifted, with manager McInnes reporting an otherwise clean bill of health for the fixture.
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