Motherwell keeper Liam Kelly insists he had nothing to do against Sligo Rovers, and says there’s no panic ahead of their Europa Conference League qualifier second leg next week.
Kelly was left stranded 27 minute into the first leg at Fir Park on Thursday evening, as Bevis Mugabi’s slack pass-back let Aidan Keena in to lob the ball over the Scotland internationalist and into the net.
But the former Rangers, Livingston and Queen’s Park Rangers shot-stopper says he was otherwise left to watch most of the game, and reckons Sligo keeper Luke McNicholas was on top form.
He said: “We have been losing games before at half-time and managed to turn them around, so there is enough quality inside our changing room to turn it around.
“We were done by one individual error, and we have all done it and seen it so many times.
“But the positive is that the boys are still believing that we can turn it around, and we will give it our best shot on Thursday.
“It’s half-time, and I understand the criticism will be a lot more if we don’t turn it around, but everyone in our dressing room believes we can.”
Kelly added: “I had nothing to do. I’ve not had a lot to do apart from the first 10 minutes where their sharpness showed, with them being in the middle of their season.
“But it’s only half-time.
“I didn’t feel that I was overly worked. We aren’t entitled to just turn up and beat anybody, so they are going to have opportunities, but I felt we limited them really well.
“In the second half we maybe became a wee bit desperate for the goal and tried to force it a bit.
“If we haven’t scored with five minutes to go then we will have a real panic on, and I accept that, but it’s half-time in the game and still 90 minutes to play.
“We created chances on Thursday but I thought their keeper played really well after they sold their number one [Edward McGinty] that day."
Kelly was disappointed to lose the first leg, but is convinced Motherwell have the quality to win at the Showgrounds next week.
He said: “I was really disappointed when the final whistle went and we hadn’t broken them down.
“They are a good team, and the advantage is with them at the moment.
“They are at their own place, and have progressed to this stage on merit, but we have quality up front and we have good defenders, so we can turn the tie around – by any means necessary.
“There are plenty to be positive about, in terms of performance, but we stopped doing what we were good at. In the second half we didn’t create as many clear-cut opportunities.”
Kelly says Mugabi will recover from the mistake that led to Sligo’s goal, but other than that, the Irish side didn’t threaten too many times.
He said: “Bevis has played really well loads of times but he made a mistake. We have all made mistakes in our jobs before, and I have made plenty.
“You don’t want it to happen and he never intentionally made a mistake, so Bevis will be fine.
“Apart from the goal, we defended really well. I don’t recall them having many major opportunities.
“It’s important that we don’t chase it desperately over there as they have the quality to punish us.
“The boy Aidan Keena had an opportunity and he punished us.
“If we’re a bit tidier defensively and with a bit more quality in the final third we hope we can turn it around.”
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