McGhee rues missed chances
by Brian Etherson, 08 May 2008
Motherwell boss Mark McGhee admitted his side’s game plan for Wednesday evening’s trip to Ibrox failed because they did not take their chances.
Motherwell’s approach was to frustrate Walter Smith’s side and then hit on the counter, but they found the going tough in the early stages of the game and McGhee believes they missed some good opportunities as well.
“We didn’t take our chances, and there’s always the danger - particularly in the way we defend set-pieces - we would lose the game and that’s exactly what’s happened,” McGhee told Setanta Sports.
McGhee demanded his players show the mental character required to play in Glasgow and he beleievs they responded to his call.
McGhee said: “I think it took them a few minutes of the game to acclimatise and in particular to get the ball played out from the back.
“And once we started getting the confidence to do it, I think our possession was terrific. I don’t know what the percentage was possession-wise in the first half but we seemed to dominate [possession] and cause them all sorts of problems.
“When we made a chance, we just didn’t quite take it, and at times that final pass wasn’t quite right to make more chances, but we lost the game the way we lose games.”
If Motherwell beat Aberdeen on Saturday they will still be in the driving seat for third spot and McGhee thinks that will clinch European football for them next season.
He added: “I think if we beat Aberdeen we will have third place, because I expect Dundee United and Hibs will both lose to Celtic and Rangers at the weekend and that will see us over the line, so the Aberdeen game as I’ve been saying all along means everything to us.”