There was a time when 'Zadok the Priest', that triumphant tune that the big yins at UEFA plundered for the Champions League theme, was ringing in Keith Lasley's ears as Motherwell scaled the giddy heights of the qualifying rounds for European football's showpiece tournament.
Perhaps it's 'Messiah', another of Handel's offerings, that is getting cranked up on the gramophones of Fir Park this week. They could do with a saviour, after all. Saturday's sullen surrender against relegated St Mirren condemned Motherwell to the perils of the play-offs where they will scrap it out over two legs for that coveted place at the top table of the Scottish game that has been theirs for 30 years.
Lasley, a Motherwell stalwart who has had two successful stints at the club stretching back to 1999, is certainly not wanting to add the word 'relegation' to his footballing cv. Les Hutchison, the Barbados-based businessman who bought the Lanarkshire outfit at the turn of the year and will eventually sell the shares to a fan ownership, has already stated that the dreaded drop would not mean major cuts, trimmings and prunings but, despite these reassurances, Lasley is keen to ensure that the worst case scenario does not unfold. "This club has not been relegated in 30 years and I don't want to be involved in it," said the 35-year-old. "I know my team mates don't either. It's not something I've been involved in, a relegation, and I certainly don't want to start now. It's back to that desire thing in the play offs. Sometimes it comes down to that in football; it comes down to who wants it most. We just want to make sure that it is us. We have been lucky with the involvement of Mr Hutchison who saved the club in a sense with his input and investment. Even with that we know what it means. Not just in a financial sense but in a sporting sense. You don't want to be involved in a relegation. I've been here a long time and I don't want to see us relegated as I know what it means to the fans and to the community to have that status in the Premiership."
Whoever Motherwell face in the showdown, it will be a team on the ascendancy. That fact is obvious given that sides who manage to get through to a play-off final must be doing something right. It's all about positive momentum. Lasley and his team-mates have a final league encounter with Partick Thistle to come this weekend and they will be eager to foster some kind of winning mentality again ahead of two nerve-shredding confrontations that will decide their fate.
"Hibs found that to their detriment going in on the back of a poor run and that's why Saturday's match is important to us," noted Lasley as he reflected on Hibernian's play-off disaster last year when they were the toiling top flight team plunged into the play-off scrap against an upwardly mobile Hamilton. "It doesn't mean anything in terms of league position but you want to be going into a play off in a positive mindset and hopefully on the back off a decent performance and result. Regardless of that, we still believe we have the ability and experience to go to any of the opponents and get the results in those two games."
Saturday's tumultuous tussle in Paisley had more incidents than an episode of Crimewatch as St Mirren turned the match on its head late on. A John Sutton penalty had given Motherwell the lead with 15 minutes to go but a bewildering equaliser from Jason Naismith in the 85th minute levelled things up before Stevie Mallan's superb , long range strike deep into injury time compounded Motherwell's misery. In the midst of the frenzied finale, Motherwell's Scott McDonald was sent off for what the officials deemed to be violent conduct when he caught St Mirren's Thomas Reilly. McDonald, who could now miss the play-offs, was fuming as was his manager Ian Baraclough, who immediately declared that Motherwell will launch a stout appeal. Even Reilly, the 20-year-old forward, felt the punishment was harsh. "He was trying to shield himself and he's just hit me and I wouldn't say it was a red card," said Reilly of this contentious elbowing incident. "He's not intentionally tried to hurt me. Scott is a good guy and wouldn't do that. He's a big, big player for them and they'll want to get him back for the play-offs. I wouldn't want to see any player miss big games like that. I'd want to see him playing and, hopefully, he'll get back into the team."
In these torrid times, Motherwell need all the help they can get.
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