You need to grow up quickly in this game. Alex Gorrin may be only 25 but the Motherwell man readily admits that he considers himself something of an old warhorse amid the young ‘uns that surround him at Fir Park. “Yes, I feel like a veteran,” he said with a smile after helping Motherwell to a fifth successive win at St Mirren on Wednesday night.
At the vanguard of this Lanarkshire youth movement is the 19-year-old Jake Hastie whose fourth goal in five games wasn’t just a teenage kick, more a teenage howitzer. His brilliant left-footed sizzler from distance put Motherwell on their way to victory and Gorrin knows a special talent when he sees one.
As a teenager himself, the well-travelled Spaniard was part of the Sunderland youth set-up which also spawned Jordan Henderson, the midfielder who would go on to a multi-million pound move to Liverpool and earn full England honours. Gorrin is confident the likes of Hastie and company can strive for great things too. “I always looked up to the likes of Jordan and one or two others when I was at Sunderland,” he said. “Guys like Jordan kept their feet on the ground and always worked hard. Not matter how well they were doing they were the first in at training and the last out. That stuck with me. I can see that with Hastie, David Turnbull and the other lads at Motherwell. These are exciting times. You have to work hard and if you do, then you can go to high places, like Henderson has. They have the talent.
“I think this is the strongest and one of the most talented groups of youngsters I’ve seen. When I first joined in the summer I saw we had a lot of quality. They have taken their chance and there are still more to come through. There are some big things to come from the young ones. They are full of confidence.”
Amid this five star run of league wins was a Scottish Cup exit to Championship pacesetters Ross County in January. Since then, Motherwell have bounced back with four victories on the trot. Having been plootering about in something of no man’s land in the table, they have galvanised their campaign and have plenty to play for.
“The Ross County defeat was certainly a wake-up call,” added Gorrin. “After that we have been very positive. We stuck to together. That is the main thing. We are all pushing in the same direction. We always had a target of the top six. We needed to get on a run and we have done that. We are not in top six yet but we are on the right path.”
At this rate, the Motherwell players probably wouldn’t mind if they had a game every day such is the sense of buoyancy in the ranks. Now that they are not involved in the Scottish Cup, it’s a free weekend for Motherwell but Gorrin is not worried about losing any momentum.
“We’d love to be playing this weekend but we rest up, recharge and go again,” said Gorrin. “Obviously you want the games to keep coming but we focus on the next game against Hearts. It’s only a week away.”
It can’t come soon enough for upwardly mobile Motherwell.
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