Kettlewell Urges Motherwell to Overcome Cup Disappointment and Focus on League Play

Stuart Kettlewell is pressing his Motherwell squad to avoid lingering effects from their recent Hampden Park defeat, as they aim to recover from their League Cup exit. This comes as they prepare to face St Johnstone at Fir Park on Saturday, notably without the injured right-back Stephen O’Donnell. The manager emphasized the critical need to “take care of league action” and set aside the disappointment stemming from Sunday’s semi-final loss to Rangers. “That’s what I said, don’t have a hangover and that disappointment,” he stated. “But you’ve got another opportunity to do it as well. As difficult as that might be, this football club under Stephen Robinson managed to do that some six years ago, get to Hampden a few times in the season.” “But I don’t think you’ll ever achieve anything unless you’re taking care of the league action. So very simply, they have to take the good aspects of it, you have to be motivated by the negative side of it.” “But it’s not just about cup football, that’s about trying to take that into league action for us as well.” Motherwell will be forced to contend without O’Donnell, who was absent from Sunday’s match due to a hamstring injury and is now expected to be sidelined for a period. “He’s going to be out for a period of time,” Kettlewell confirmed. “It’s difficult to put the exact date on that but we know categorically he’ll be out for at least another four weeks and potentially into December.”