Blow for Motherwell as Steven Hammell suffers hamstring injury

Hammell went off inside nine minutes, forcing Carl McHugh to move back into defence amid the absence of the injured Ben Heneghan.

Published 30th Jul 2017

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson revealed left-back Steven Hammell had suffered a suspected torn hamstring during their 1-0 Betfred Cup victory over Berwick at Fir Park.

Hammell went off inside nine minutes, forcing Carl McHugh to move back into defence amid the absence of the injured Ben Heneghan.

Heneghan is expected to be fit for the Premiership opener against Rangers next Sunday but Charles Dunne looks set to feature ahead of Hammell.

After his side sealed a place among the second-round seeds thanks to Elliot Frear's 82nd-minute goal, Robinson said: "We think Stevie's torn his hamstring.

"He had a slight niggle before the game so he probably shouldn't have played, but he told everybody he was fit so that's disappointing. We'll have to assess that on Monday morning and see where we are.

"We're hopeful Ben will be back. We didn't risk him, he's a big part of what we are trying to do. But we're confident that he'll be fit for the Rangers game.

"I still think we need another centre-half so that's something I will actively try to do this week.''

Berwick manager John Coughlin was proud of his inexperienced side after they frustrated Motherwell for large periods.

"We had such a young side and I told them to use this as a platform to show people they can play,'' he said.

"We had 17 and 18-year-olds out there who grew into men during the course of the 90 minutes.''