AT this rate, Craig Clay’s new-found hobby could come in pretty handy if the SPFL fixture hamster falls out his wee wheel sometime in the near future.
We are now just a couple of fixtures away from Christmas and the bottom half of the Ladbrokes Premiership is tighter than a League Two chairman. Four points separate sixth from 12 with each of the seven sides holding a negative goal difference within a hitting distance of each other.
The last month or so of fixtures has done little to pull them apart, leading many to conclude that we could see a campaign steaming towards a split in the new year with a host of teams still juggling ambitions of a top-six finish and avoiding being bottom. The prospect of several of them finishing on the same points and a host of mathematical permutations being poured over is also not outside the realms of possibility.
Given that, the fact that Motherwell midfielder Clay is about to embark on an accountancy course could make Fir Park’s finest number cruncher invaluable.
“Don’t get me wrong, I am on Call of Duty on my PS4 quite a bit but I think with all the free time you get at night it’s a perfect opportunity,” said the Englishman following the 0-0 Fir Park draw with Kilmarnock on Saturday. “I’m up here by myself, no ties like a girlfriend or anything so I can just go out and do things for myself.
“There’s more courses starting in January for accountancy. Hopefully I can get on to that. I’ll see if I’m smart enough!
“It’s a short career, I got a bit of advice last year from Gregor Robinson who had just finished his career who said while you are young try as many things as possible and see what’s for you. I’m taking that advice on board and trying a few courses.
“It’s just a night time course once a week, that’s the start I want. It’s just to get a feel of it and see if it’s for me.
“When I was at school my favourite two subjects were PE and maths, so I thought get into something where I can work with numbers and see if that suits me.”
Clay has been one of the most impressive signings of the summer since joining from Grimsby on a two-year deal. His ability to pick a pass and awareness to get away from his man has made the former England C cap stand out from the crowd.
However, even he wasn’t able to put a gloss on a turgid game that will already be long forgotten by most who witnessed it. There was little quality between two of the teams scrapping to get out of that clutch of clubs in the lower half, although Motherwell are right to feel they probably should have just about taken all three points going into tomorrow night’s trip to Pittodrie.
“I think they made the game a bit hard with the long balls but when we pushed on and put a few good passes together we created some good chances.
“Overall we deserved to win the game I think anyone watching would agree,” said Clay. “It’s obviously disappointing not to take all three points but on the positive side it’s a good clean sheet for us.
“We took our chances last week, maybe three out of four. Today we’ve had three or four one-on-ones we really should have put away. On another day they go in, at least we are getting in those positions.”
For Kilmarnock, this dull stalemate was probably just what was required after a punishing night in Aberdeen during the week. Lee Clark’s team were turned over in a 5-1 rout on Tuesday, so the fact they created little here but still managed to escape with a clean sheet, a point and their top-six status intact was unsurprisingly contenting.
“We were coming off the back of a disappointing result during the week but we had been in good form recently. We were trying to rectify that. It was a tough match but we’re happy with a point,” said Scott Boyd, the Kilmarnock defender.
“It was important to get a clean sheet after Tuesday but more just to get a point on the board. The league is so tight and every point is massive. That’s us progressing again. Motherwell showed how good a side they were last week and were unlucky not to take anything from the champions. So we’re happy enough.”
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