WHILE the credit for Motherwell’s remarkable recent resurgence is often shared between manager Stuart Kettlewell and the current darling of Fir Park, in-form goal machine Kevin Van Veen, the addition of some steel at the heart of their backline can’t be overlooked.
January arrivals Calum Butcher and Dan Casey in particular have been rock-solid as part of a back three with Paul McGinn for the hitherto porous Motherwell defence, almost halving the frequency by which the Steelmen concede goals.
Prior to their involvement, Motherwell had shipped 42 goals in 25 Premiership matches, but they have now conceded just seven goals in their last seven games, four of which came in the sole defeat of that run against Rangers.
The clean sheet against Livingston on Saturday contributed to their fifth win of that seven-match sequence, helped along the way by yet another Van Veen double and a Max Johnston strike, all of which came before the interval.
READ MORE: Motherwell 3 Livingston 0: Van Veen at the double again for 'Well
The second half saw Motherwell come off the gas a little going forward, but the defence retained its focus, and they rarely looked like conceding against an admittedly woeful Livi outfit.
Changed days then down Fir Park way, and one of the only concerns at the moment for a support who were fretting about their team’s top-flight status until recently is that a key member of their defensive unit in Casey is only contracted at the club until the summer.
The extension of that deal should be a priority for Kettlewell, and he will no doubt be as pleased as the club’s supporters will be to hear that the Irishman is eager to extend his stay in Lanarkshire.
“Of course I would, things are going very well,” Casey said. “But I don’t even want to get my head into that space.
“I’m just concentrating on one game at a time and that’s my focus really.
“It’s funny, because I came in so late [in the transfer window] I’ve just been thinking one game at a time.
“There’s no point in thinking about my future just now because I could be here one day and touch wood, I could get injured or something. You never know what can happen in football.
“So, it’s just one game at a time and I’m just taking it like that really.”
Casey’s impact will no doubt be cold comfort to former Motherwell manager Stevie Hammell, who was involved in bringing him and Butcher to the club before being dismissed following their debut defeat to Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup.
It must follow then that the atmosphere around the club at present is hugely different to the one he walked into after arriving from Sacramento Republic.
“I wasn’t here long enough if I’m honest!” he said.
“Football is a funny game, things happen, people change, and it was just one of those situations where people needed to change things up, and luckily enough for us it has given us a reaction.
READ MORE: Kettlewell says David Marshall ‘angered the beast’ in Van Veen row
“I came in under the previous manager, but I was only in for a week or so. It was tough [when he was sacked], but that’s football at the end of the day. We’re all under pressure and we have to do our jobs.
“It doesn’t matter if you are doing well one week, if you take your foot off the gas someone else will be in.
“You just have to keep going as a team and everyone individually as well.”
As for Livingston, their collapse in form could hardly have come at a worse time, finding themselves three down at the break for the second week in succession.
Manager Davie Martindale shouldered the blame for the defeats over the past fortnight after the game at Fir Park, but midfielder Jason Holt says that it is down to the collective to get back to the things that put them in such a good position in the first place before they blow their top-six hopes.
“As a collective we’re accountable as well,” Holt said.
“You can’t pin this run on individual players or members of staff because we share that responsibility as a group.
“The last two weeks haven’t been like us at all. At Livi, we’ve always prided ourselves on being hard to beat but we’ve now conceded six goals in our last two games.
“It’s been a difficult time but it’s up to us to rectify that.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here