Stuart Kettlewell admits the loss of skipper Paul McGinn to a training ground injury has left a “bitter taste” ahead of a huge run of games for Motherwell.
The Fir Park side can go level on points with Rangers in third if they make it seven wins from eight games against Dundee tomorrow. But they’ll have to do without influential defender McGinn who is expected to be out until the new year after tearing his thigh muscle during the international break. Well have a League Cup semi final against Rangers on the horizon too and, while Kettlewell insists nobody is celebrating “small achievements” so far, he knows McGinn has been a key part of the storming run of results.
The Well boss said: “I’m not going to put an exact timescale on it. But I would be amazed if Paul’s playing for us before the end of this year. He went to strike a ball and obviously felt something up round about his hip flexor and his thigh. There’s a tear in the muscle and we’ll be working on it. I think it’s just disappointing what he starts to miss. We know we’ve got some real good games coming up. It is a huge blow and I never want to be blasé about this but it’s part and parcel of the game.
“Without feeling sorry for ourselves we seem to get so much of that bad luck. We’re gutted because Paul’s such an influential player, everybody understands why I made him club captain here, because he’s influence, because he’s so consistent, because he’s influence on the group.
“So we’ll find another way, Shane Blaney is coming back to full fitness, we’ve got Kofi Balmer dipping in and making his first start for us against Hibs. And you’ve got Dan Casey coming back from suspension There are options there, but that doesn’t take away from the disappointment and the bitter taste of losing Paul.
“One thing, he doesn’t need surgery. We’ve been advised on that conservative management of it. So I always think that’s a positive thing. Paul’s a positive guy. He’s the least maintenance that I’ve ever had in a football player that I’ve worked with. Just gets on with his job. Even the period he’s out, he’ll be a big influence on the rest of the players.”
Despite the loss of his skipper, Kettlewell admits a feel good factor has swept through Fir Park on the back of the winning run that most recently saw Well beat Hibs 2-1 in Leith. Defeat Dundee tomorrow and they will lock level with Rangers on 16 points before Philippe Clement’s side travel to Kilmarnock on Sunday and with the League Cup semi final against the Ibrox side just two weeks away.
But Kettlewell said: “Nothing has achieved. I think we live in a society where people want to pat themselves on the back all the time. And celebrate themselves. And celebrate small achievements and small milestones. It’s just not the way I work.
“It’s just never been how I’ve worked. Every club I’ve worked with has probably been an underdog. That probably sets my mindset. You always feel that you can prove someone else wrong.
“You always feel as if you can push your boundaries is what I would always tell the players. And you keep trying that until at some point you can’t push and you can’t force anymore. So it’s just always been in my mindset. I’m not one for going out and having massive celebrations off the back of winning a couple of games of football.”