MOTHERWELL goalkeeper Trevor Carson insists he would happily trade this season’s club record of clean sheets for one more in Saturday’s Scottish Cup final.
The Steelmen face Celtic at Hampden Park on the back of an impressive defensive campaign that has seen Stephen Robinson’s side rack up 20 shut-outs.
One of those came in the last meeting between the two sides, a goalless league draw at Fir Park in March, and the 30-year-old is desperate to repeat the feat at the national stadium.
He said: “For me it’s a record to be proud of and probably more important than a goalscoring record, because if you keep a clean sheet you’re guaranteeing yourself at least a draw in a game and it’s a massive platform to build on.
“Getting one on Saturday would be incredible. I would probably sacrifice the 20 we’ve had before that just for one more.
“It’s a great base and gives everyone confidence. That’s what we’ve been moulded on with the gaffer this year, being hard to beat, hard to break down and everyone has known their roles.”
Carson and his teammates are no strangers to Hampden, having already reached the Betfred Cup final in November where they fell to defeat against Celtic.
As ‘Well prepare for the final act of a memorable season, the goalkeeper urged his side to ensure their fine form in knockout competition is rewarded with silverware.
“Our record has been incredible in cups this year,” he said.
“Even with goals for and against, right from the first game of the season in the Betfred Cup. It’s not a bad tag to have, a good cup team.
“In the league we were obviously disappointed not to finish in the top six but to finish seventh, most people would have taken that at the start of the season and with two cup finals on top of that it’s incredible.
“I can’t really put my finger on what it is about cup games. The manager has to take a lot of credit for the way he prepares us, it’s a one-off game and he’s been brilliant in preparing us for them. It’s been no different this week, we’re probably the best prepared team going in to face Celtic.
“Everybody knows their jobs, he’s done his bit. So it’s up to us. It’s alright having the game plan, but you have to go out there and fulfil it.”
Carson won his first Northern Ireland cap in a friendly win over South Korea in March and is determined to learn from his hazy memories of that day by taking time to appreciate the occasion of cup final day.
“I didn’t take it in enough and then later I was thinking that I’d forgotten everything that happened. I’m going to make sure on Saturday that I take everything in and enjoy it all because these days don’t come around often in football and it’s what all the sacrifices you made as a kid were for.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here