He's hard to ignore given that his voice booms round the ground for 90 minutes. But Liam Kelly insists NOT being noticed is the marker he judges his form on - and right now he’s delighted to be standing in the shadows of Motherwell’s red hot strikers.
The goalkeeper is first to admit his performances had dipped prior to Stuart Kettlewell’s appointment in February as Well suffered an 11-game winless run that saw morale plummet and Well drop into the relegation mire. Since then the skipper has returned to the kind of form that propelled him into Steve Clarke’e Scotland squad - losing just twice in 11 games and conceding only 10 goals in that run.
Well have the best defensive record in the top flight outside the Old Firm and combined with Kevin van Veen’s sensational goalscoring form it’s lifted them clear of the drop zone. And Kelly, who has played every Premiership minute so far, said: “It’s been incredible. The results speak for themselves. Everyone is really enjoying coming to their work and looking forward to every game, playing with a freedom that the manager’s given us.
“We’re in a really good place and hopefully that continues this weekend. I’ve been really pleased with my form since the manager came in here. I wasn’t so happy with it before.
“Ultimately the most important thing for a goalkeeper is consistency. If nobody says your name after a game then usually that means you’ve had a good game.
“I’ve had a few of them since the manager came in. Staying quiet, staying under the radar, let the forward boys take all the plaudits. We were never worried going into games but we were lacking confidence on our bad run.
“Losing games, losing goals, all of a sudden we were dropping points and conceding stupid goals. Now we have tidied up and stopped making individual errors. Those of us that were making errors, that’s stopped. It’s been eradicated. The confidence picks up and momentum kicks in. Then you pick up results and it’s been really enjoyable the last few months.
“After the lows the team and whole club experienced it’s nice that we have come out of it and we can enjoy this high just now. Confidence changes everything. Mindset changes everything. That’s a massive part in football. The gaffer is really level-headed, never too high or low or over-emotional.
“The way he conducts himself has had such a positive impact with all of us. I’ve really enjoyed playing under him and hopefully we can keep going and pick up as many points as possible.”
Motherwell’s top flight safety was assured with last weekend’s 2-0 win over St Johnstone. But boss Kettlewell insists it’s foot to the floor for the last three games of the season as he looks to keep momentum building going into the new campaign. Well can equal last season’s tally of 46 points if they beat Ross County in Lanarkshire on Saturday.
And Kelly said there will be no let-up - not with the memory of those dark days still all too vivid. He said: “Ultimately it’s still early in his tenure and we are all still trying to impress him as well. We want to improve, stay in his team, work really hard in training.
“We’re aware the form we have at the end of the season we want to carry into the start of next season so we don’t end up chasing our tails or experiencing the emotions we had from November to February.
“We don’t want that again. We know exactly how bad that felt. There were games at the start of the season where we did well and they’ve helped us get to this position too. But you can’t get away from the fact how well the manager has done since coming in and how good he has been with everyone and the group are loving it.”
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