Motherwell defender Liam Gordon says there’s no room for friends in football and joked that he’ll wind up St Johnstone striker Nicky Clark ahead of their Premiership clash on Saturday.
Gordon sits out the second match of a suspension during the Fir Park showdown, courtesy of a late red card in the 3-0 defeat at home to Celtic on October 30, when VAR decided his tackle on Adam Idah was worth more than a booking.
But that won’t stop him from trying to annoy his former team-mates before they head to Lanarkshire.
Gordon said: “Unfortunately I’m suspended for that one, and I’m a bit gutted about that, but I’m sure the boys will put in another good performance and get the three points, just like they did at Tannadice last midweek [2-1 win].
“I’m fully confident in them doing so, so I’ll be looking forward to watching it.
“I’ll maybe be on the wind-up this week, get on the phone to Nicky Clark and give him a few bits of abuse!
“I’ve got a few friends still there, but it will be business as usual, there’s no friends in football, and we will be fully focused on trying to take the three points off of them.”
Motherwell dropped down to fifth in the table, but with a game in hand over Dundee United, who drew 1-1 at Hibs while the Steelmen exited the Premier Sports Cup semi-final with a 2-1 defeat to holders Rangers at Hampden.
Gordon says Motherwell did everything they could to reach the final against Celtic in December, but reckons they might get back to Hampden in the Scottish Cup.
He said: “It was very frustrating to get knocked out. We had eyes on going to the final, but we were obviously up against a good level of opposition in Rangers, and it’s always an uphill task, isn’t it.
“We were going out to the game, all I asked from the boys was to leave everything out there, and I felt we did that, but just came up a wee bit short.
“It’s a great achievement for a club like Motherwell to reach a semi-final, when you see the finances of teams in the rest of the league and what we’ve got, it’s a good achievement.
“It would obviously have been a wee bit better if we had got to the final, but all in all it’s a positive move this season, and now we just need to focus on league form.
“This will sting, of course it will. It’s unnatural for it not to sting, but as of Monday it’s done, it’s packed, we move on.
“We’ll focus on the league, and then we’ve got an opportunity to come back here in the Scottish Cup, if we’re good enough to do that.”
Gordon added: “We’re eager to get back to Hampden – that’s what you play football for. You want to win, you want to win competitions, or go as far as you can, and you see what it does for the fans, coming out in their numbers – that’s what it’s all about.
“We would be honoured to come back here in the Scottish Cup, but that’s a big task ahead.
“We’re in a good place, but there’s still a lot of football still to be played, so it’s up to us to keep that level going and improve throughout the season.
“If we do that, we’ll be in with a shout, come the end of the season.”
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