MOTHERWELL midfielder Liam Donnelly was in high spirits after netting a last-minute winner against Morton to send his side through to the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.
The Northern Irishman scored his first goal since February 2020 after a testing match against Dougie Imrie’s side saw the home team trailing 1-0 with just 15 minutes remaining.
The 25-year-old only made one appearance for Motherwell last season after picking up a knee injury in the opening game against Ross County.
And now he's hoping to kick on under the leadership of Graham Alexander.
Donnelly said: “I was delighted to get the winner and get through to the next round after Morton gave us a difficult game.
“It’s a great feeling for me personally to get back on the scoresheet especially given the timing of it.
“There’s not much that’s better than scoring a goal in the last minute of extra time.
“I’ve been out for a while and I’ve missed that feeling of when the ball hits the back of the net.
“Hopefully there are a few more goals to come too.”
The Fir Park side will be hoping to improve on last year’s Scottish Cup run where they were knocked out by Hibs in the quarter-finals after a penalty shootout.
Alexander’s outfit have now been drawn against Aberdeen in the fifth round.
However, Donnelly said that the league will be the priority and the side will look to get back to winning ways in the Premiership when they host Hibs on Wednesday night.
He added: “We have some tough games coming up so I think our main focus will be the league form and trying to secure a European spot which would make it a really good season for us.
“We want to make sure we are at 100% every game and I don’t see any reason why we can’t qualify for Europe because we can cause any team problems.”
Motherwell currently sit fourth – the last European spot available in the league – and are two points ahead of Shaun Maloney’s side.
The Steelmen competed in Europa League qualifiers at the beginning of last season where they were knocked out by Israeli Side Hapoel B’er Sheva.
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