Motherwell's Carl McHugh sees similarities to Bradford City ahead of semi-final

McHugh aims to reach the Scottish version when he takes on Rangers at Hampden on Sunday.

The Irishman scored in Bradford's semi-final victory over Aston Villa as the bottom-tier club set up a 2013 Wembley meeting with Swansea after knocking out the likes of Watford, Wigan and Chelsea.

City lost 5-0 but returned to Wembley months later to secure promotion and McHugh wants to go one better in the Betfred Cup.

"We had a similar group to this year,'' the 24-year-old said. It was a real honest group, hard-working players. We just all wanted to progress and we had no fear.

"We played Arsenal, Wigan were in the Premier League, Aston Villa over two legs and we had no fear, we just went out and played our game. It was a great run, a great thing to be involved in, but ideally you want to win a cup when you get to the final.

"You look back on it and it was a great occasion but there is disappointment because you want to win a cup when you get that far.

"These occasions, semi-finals and finals, you only enjoy them if you win. There is no point coming here and looking for a day out. You want to win the game.''

Motherwell have already scored 18 goals in the Betfred Cup since kicking off their season at Hampden against Queen's Park. And McHugh feels the competition has been crucial in forging their identity as a team.

"We had four games in the group which were massively beneficial for us,'' the former Plymouth player said. We got to gel, help the new players bed in. Rather than playing meaningless friendlies we were playing competitive games.

"We followed that up, we had a great result at Ross County. We were down to 10 men and won in extra-time, Ross MacLean came on and scored a great goal. It's been about the squad all season. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the goal he scored, and other players played in earlier rounds.

"We had a great performance as well against Aberdeen, and hopefully we can take that momentum into Sunday.''

Motherwell sit one point behind Rangers in the Ladbrokes Premiership and McHugh feels manager Stephen Robinson has built a special atmosphere.

"The manager has to take a lot of the credit, he has completely changed the attitude in the club, the work ethic, and he has brought good characters and players in as well,'' McHugh said.

"We have really gelled off the park and there is a real desire in the squad to get better every day, work hard in training and listen to the manager.

"We really run hard for each other, we scrap for each other. If you do that and leave everything out there, you give yourself a great chance and you have no regrets.''

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