Robinson hails Motherwell’s character as he plays down Hearts speculation

Posted Sunday, November 03, 2019 by PA

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson hailed his players for the character they showed to secure a late win over Livingston.

Allan Campbell’s 83rd-minute strike sealed a 2-1 victory for the Fir Park side to keep them third in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Chris Long fired Motherwell ahead 120 seconds into the second half but that was cancelled out by a penalty from Livingston substitute Steven Lawless, who scored with his first touch.

But Motherwell pressed for the winner and they were rewarded when Campbell pounced to score with just seven minutes remaining.

Robinson said: “I have to credit the players. It was a great result but not a great game. Livi make it like that sometimes and I admire that. They are really difficult to break down.

“I said to the players ‘good teams always find a way to break them down’ and they found a way. We were patient and moved the ball and I told them if they kept moving it they would eventually switch off and that’s what happened.

“A little bit of magic from Sherwin (Seedorf) was what it took. And Mark Gillespie had to pull off a great save too. I’m delighted with the performance.

“It wasn’t a great game but we showed steely determination to deal with what Livingston were throwing at us. The boys deserve a lot of credit.”

Robinson has emerged as the front runner for the vacant manager’s job at Hearts following the sacking of Craig Levein.

But Robinson insists he is ignoring the speculation and will instead enjoy a glass of wine and reflect on his side sitting in third place.

He said: “I don’t need to deal with the speculation. I’m just delighted we are third in the league. I’m going to enjoy my Saturday night. I’m going to watch the semi-final (of the Betfred Cup) and have a glass of wine and enjoy it…that’s how I’ll deal with it!”

Livingston manager Gary Holt is getting tired of hard-luck stories for his team and knows they have to turn good performances into wins.

Holt said: “It’s a kick in the teeth and it’s something we’ve spoken about. I can’t continue to come in after games and say, ‘unlucky’.

“I thought for a side which was down to the bare bones, I thought to a man we were excellent at times.

“But we need to be more professional. We have to be savvy to see games out and we didn’t do that.

“At the end of the day we would have taken a point and the disappointing thing is our keeper didn’t have much to do. Their keeper had more saves to make and we still lost the game.”