Motherwell have been given a boost with Ricki Lamie and Joe Efford expected to be fit to face Celtic next week after both limped off in Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Hearts.
However Rolando Aarons is still being assessed for a hamstring injury after he too hobbled out of the Jambos clash just 15 minutes after coming off the bench to replace Efford. Lamie was nursing a knee knock while winger Efford tweaked a hamstring in the first half at Fir Park and boss Steven Hammell said immediately afterwards that the injuries “don’t look good”.
But Record Sport understands the knocks aren’t as bad as first feared and the duo should be fine for the trip to face the champions next Saturday. Meanwhile Hammell insists Well fans can look forward to seeing more of Stuart McKinstry after the birthday boy impressed off the bench against Hearts. The Motherwell academy graduate moved back to Fir Park on loan from Leeds United last month but has been limited to three substitute appearances so far.
Hammell said: “I think Stuart’s season will progress and he will grow and grow. To just be thrown on.. we have to build him up especially with the injuries we are potentially going to have. But I felt that he was a real threat towards the end of the game, like a few of our forward players were, so I’m sure we will see more of Stuart soon.”
Well have now picked up just one point from their last three Premiership outings ahead of the trip to face champions Celtic next. But after dominating the Jambos for the majority of a game in which they had 26 attempts at goal, Hammell insists there’s no panic.
He said: “It does give us encouragement. We have a style we want to play and stick to and we believe in it. It’s not just about keeping the ball and being good in possession of the ball, which I think we were for long spells against Hearts.
“Our possession stats were good as well but we want to be creating chances and we did. I would still rather it had been a lesser performance and we won the game 1-0. The most important thing going into any game is collecting points and we didn’t do that.”
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