Stephen Robinson challenges Motherwell to make amends in Scottish Cup derby

Published 19th Jan 2018

Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson is looking for a problem-free encounter with Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton on Saturday.

Their Ladbrokes Premiership clash immediately before the winter break ended in a 3-1 win for Accies.

To add to Well's woes, defender Peter Hartley was sent off for barging Hamilton's Dougie Imrie after the final whistle, and he will miss the home William Hill Scottish Cup fourth-round tie through suspension.

As he looks forward to the start of the second half of the season, Robinson is seeking an altogether different outcome this weekend.

Reflecting on the Hartley incident, Robinson said: `We don't want that to happen if we are being honest. That is something we don't want to see.

`It cost Peter two games so we are not happy with that at all but he will learn his lesson from that and we have dealt with that internally.

`But it is a derby that we want to win.

`I thought we let ourselves down in the second half, we weren't the team that we have been.

`We lacked a bit of energy and didn't take our chances in the first half. So we are looking forward to the game.

`We will make sure it is a really competitive game, try to get the fans on board again in the first couple of minutes and really take the game to Hamilton.'

Motherwell reached the final of the Betfred Cup this season only to lose to Celtic at Hampden Park, and Robinson `definitely' sees that as motivation for another cup run.

The Northern Irishman said: `It raised the players' profiles and it raised the club's profile again.

`And what it does is that it helps attract players.

`When we are speaking to (new signings) Curtis Main, Nadir Ciftci and Tom Aldred; we have just been in a cup final, we have been in the top six for the vast majority of the season and we aim to do that again.'