Only we can mess it up, claims Randolph

The Motherwell goalkeeper is quite aware he will face a United side buoyed by a weekend win over Rangers at Ibrox, and more pertinently, a Tannadice attack which is bristling with impertinence and menace.

That Randolph did not appear unduly flustered when that was pointed out to him was partly down to the sense of security his side have fostered at Fir Park recently -- they have lost just one of their last five home matches -- but also because he has seen what can happen when a side puts too much stock in a win over either of the Old Firm.

The Fir Park side followed a rousing win over a Celtic in February with a deflating defeat away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Given how compelling they had appeared against the Parkhead side, who had just beaten Rangers, their capitulation in the Highlands was wholly unexpected.

Randolph stopped short of predicting United would suffer a similar slump, but he gave the impression he would not be surprised if they did. “They can either turn up and be over confident or can turn up and play like they did again,” he said. “We know that, after we beat Celtic here, we didn’t turn up in the next game against Inverness, so anything can happen. If we start like we did on Saturday [against Aberdeen] and the last time we played United, we should get the result.”

Their most recent meeting came only a week ago, when Motherwell won comprehensively to progress to the Scottish Cup semi-finals. Peter Houston, the Tannadice manager, has reprimanded his players for their performance that night, but Randolph calmly offered an alternative analysis. It is one which may cause a degree of agitation among the visitors tonight.

“Maybe we were just the better team,” he said. “A lot of managers say their team didn’t play well when they don’t get a result, and they have played better against us, but they have only beaten us once this season.”

Randolph was not quite so mischievous when asked to revisit their weekend victory over Aberdeen, though. That result was marginalised by the spat which ensued between John Boyle, the Motherwell chairman, and his former manager, Craig Brown, at full-time, an incident which was predictably revisited yesterday.

Randolph was adamant he had not been privy to the heated altercation, which has now been referred to the SFA’s disciplinary committee, although he knows Boyle is not always shy in expressing himself.

“We’ve had a few visits from him in the dressing room in the past,” he said. “When [youth coach Gordon] Young took over before we had a permanent manager we had some tough games and we didn’t get the results he wanted, so he came in and just said it was important for us to stick together.”

The man Boyle appointed has not started too badly, with Stuart McCall’s side close to consolidating a place in the top six. A win over United would extend the gap over Inverness to seven points, albeit Motherwell will have played two more games, and would leave the Fir Park club in control of their fate. “Only we can mess it up,” observed Randolph.

They may find they are faced with a very different United team to the one that last arrived in Lanarkshire, though. Houston is acutely aware his side have struggled against Motherwell this season and he is considering changing their approach tonight. “We will have to have a look at their pitch and see if it is conducive to our passing game,” he said.

“It might mean we have to adopt a different approach, but I also think we cannot just knock the ball from back to front all the time. We will have to mix it up and ensure that we are on the second balls, which was something we did not do last week.

“We did not turn up at Motherwell. The players have always recovered from defeats like that and Saturday’s win has got them in the proper frame of mind.”