FORMER Motherwell manager Stuart McCall thinks that his old club’s chances of beating Aberdeen in Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final have been boosted by Graeme Shinnie’s suspension, believing the Pittodrie captain to be just as important to Derek McInnes’s side as Scott Brown is to Celtic.
McCall reckons that with the tie is firmly in the balance, and that Shinnie’s absence, along with suspended teammates Kenny McLean and Shay Logan, has raised his hopes that Motherwell can get to their first Scottish Cup final since he was in the Fir Park dugout in 2011.
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"It’s huge,” said McCall. “Shinnie is like Scott Brown for Celtic, I think he’s that important. He is a leader for them, he drives them on, so he will be a big miss.
“McLean can open teams up either with a goal or a pass and Logan has been consistent throughout all his time at Aberdeen. So, it’s three big players missing for Aberdeen.
“I don’t think there is a favourite now because they are such key players. Going back to when I was manager preparing to face Aberdeen, if Shinnie or Jonny Hayes were missing we always thought we had a better chance of winning.
“Having Shinnie missing is a blow to Aberdeen definitely, for all he gives to the team on the park and inside the dressing room.”
McCall fancies that one man in particular in claret and amber will be licking his lips at the prospect of dominating the Hampden midfield, with Allan Campbell a player he has admired since his own reign at the club.
“I watched him regularly on a Sunday morning,” he said. “I used to go and watch my boy who played in the 17s. Allan used to play in the year above.
“It’s just his enthusiasm. I know he missed out on Saturday, but speaking to people, I’m sure he will be fine for the game which will be a big boost for them.
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“He was always one that stood out even in the year above. Even though he was small, he had the tenacity and the drive. That shines more. You can see the talent and you can see ability. We can all go and watch and go ‘wow, that was brilliant’; a backheel or a Cruyff turn or an overhead kick. But it’s when your team are getting beat 3-0 on a wet Sunday morning and this lad is still covering ever blade of grass and still putting tackles in? That, for me, is character.
“Chris Cadden was another one. He played with my boy at the same age and I used to see a lot of him. You can work on your ability. You can work on the technical and physical side, but you need to have a good mentality for the game, which he and Chris Cadden have.
“I am really pleased to see them doing so well at a club where they have come through the ranks.”
In an ideal world for McCall, Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson will enjoy a similar afternoon as he did back in 2011 as the Steelmen swept aside Derek McInnes’s St Johnstone side to reach the end of season showpiece event. Not that the straight-forward victory was entirely stress-free.
“I think even when we were sat at half-time at 3-0, the supporters were probably a bit more relaxed, but we were still in the dressing room saying that the next goal was huge.,” he said.
“St Johnstone had a wee half chance just after half-time, but we saw the game out.
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“Jamie Murphy scored, John Sutton got a good goal and Stephen Craigan scored from a goalkeeping error, and that helped. When games are tight, you need that little bit of luck.
“We saw out the second-half reasonably comfortably, but that was something you don’t expect, to be 3-0 up in a semi-final.
“We didn’t normally send Stephen Craigan up, because it took him about half an hour to get back. He was getting a bit older.
“We worked on it on the Friday, because we thought we might get a little bit of joy from set-pieces. It wasn’t far into the game, and Crags was back on the half-way line where he normally would be, so I’m taking full praise for that first goal.
“It would be terrific if they could do it. I can’t see it being 3-0 at half-time on Saturday, but I couldn’t see it last time either.”
*Stuart McCall was speaking at a William Hill Media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup
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