Blame me for early cup exit – Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson

Posted Sunday, January 20, 2019 by PA

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson took the blame for their William Hill Scottish Cup exit after his team failed to get going in a 2-1 home defeat by Ross County.

Last season’s runners-up fell at the first hurdle thanks to Brian Graham’s quickfire double early in the second half as the striker twice converted crosses from Declan McManus.

Substitute Jake Hastie’s stoppage-time header came too late to cause County serious concern.

Robinson started his two new loan signings, with Ross McCormack playing just off the front and Gboly Ariyibi as one of two wingers, but Motherwell lacked a cutting edge with their new-look formation.

“We got what we deserved,” Robinson said. “Ross County created more chances than us, Mark Gillespie had two or three really good saves. We huffed and puffed, we passed the ball around.

“We are trying to do things a little bit differently. We have signed players and hopefully we can implement that more as it goes on.

“But you can put Ronaldo and Messi up front, if the service isn’t good enough and people don’t take responsibility to get on the ball, then it’s difficult.

“It’s up to me to get that combination right. We didn’t have it right so I’ll take the blame.

“I do think we need a big target man that can hold the ball up and get wide players into the game, because we are not going to out-pass people from the back.”

McCormack returned to Fir Park in the latter stages of his recovery from a knee injury and the on-loan Aston Villa player looked short of fitness.

“We have brought players in that I believe will bring more quality,” Robinson said. “We put them both in the starting line-up because we wanted to give the place a lift. I knew they would be rusty, I knew Ross would give me 45-50 minutes. Both will improve from that game.

“That’s not what you want to hear today, we are extremely disappointed with the result.”

Ladbrokes Championship leaders County bounced back well from consecutive defeats, the latest a 4-0 loss to Queen of the South.

Co-manager Stuart Kettlewell said: “We’re delighted, especially on the back of the last two results.

“The season had been going well and then that real sense of negativity creeps in. But today proves a point of what we are about, That’s what we believe our players can do.

“You saw a terrific reaction from our players and I genuinely thought we deserved to win. From a solid base in the first half to the bit of creativity in the second half, our game plan panned out exactly as we wanted.”