Dan Casey says playing to the final whistle is paying off for Motherwell, after having a hand in a dramatic win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Saturday.
Casey opened the scoring with his first goal of the season in 11 minutes and, after Benji Kimpioka levelled in 64 minutes, the Irish defender’s header forced a save from Ross Sinclair that allowed sub Moses Ebiye to bag a last-gasp winner.
Boss Stuart Kettlewell has drilled that into the squad, according to Casey, who was delighted to see it pay off with three points in Perth.
He said: “When the keeper makes that save you think it’s not going to be your day, but in fairness, the manager has driven it in to us that we go to the final whistle.
“Luckily enough today we got a result from that, and it’s a nice way to win.
“We did that last season and carried it into this year. The manager has told us to fight to the end, we’ve been luckily enough to get a few points doing that, and today we got the win.
“Hopefully that can kick us on this year.”
Motherwell go into the international break with six points from their last two league games, and on form, but Casey warned of a similar situation last season that sent them spinning into a 15-game winless streak.
However, he reckons the togetherness of this current squad will guard against that repeating itself.
Casey said: “The problem is that we did this last year, it was the same, and we all know in the back of our minds that we can’t let the same thing happen.
“We’re going to get back to work next week, look forward to Aberdeen and go from there.
“It was a nightmare run, it was tough times for all of us, but we came out the right end of it, and we just have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.
“There’s been a lot of change at the club, but I think the manager has brought in very good lads as well as good players, so everyone’s getting along well.
“But there’s a lot of competition for places, so if you’re not at it, you won’t play.
“I think that’s driving the whole squad, training sessions are very high quality, and I think everyone’s getting along well, which I think shows in our performances.”
Motherwell are back in action against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on September 14, and Casey reckons it’s two sides who are on form.
He said: “We’re going back to work next week, but when you’re on a bit of form you want to play as many games as you can.
“We’ll regroup next week, work hard, and go from there.
“Aberdeen are flying, they’ve got some good players in, but so have we, so it’s going to be a good game, it will be interesting.
“We’ll get through the next week and then see where it takes us.”
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