Motherwell caretaker boss Stephen Frail: Always plan for me to face Ross County

Motherwell caretaker manager Stephen Frail revealed it was always the plan for him to take charge of Saturday’s visit of Ross County.

The Motherwell board are in the midst of a recruitment process following the resignation of Stuart Kettlewell on January 27.

But Frail and the players have had clarity while preparing for Saturday’s William Hill Premiership encounter at Fir Park.

“The search is obviously still continuing for the new manager, but I’ve always been tasked with this game,” Frail said. “That’s always been the case since the start of last week.

“Hopefully things will be more clearer sometime at the start of next week, but all the preparations have been from myself and the rest of the staff to make sure we’re ready for Ross County on Saturday.

“We’ve been able to see right from the start of the week this is how we’re doing things, this is the way we’ll be looking to prepare and organise and to make sure we’re ready.

“I’m sure when the new manager does come in, he will have his own ideas, his own thoughts on the game, it might be a rip-up of everything that we’ve done, which is fine, but the players know what’s expected of them come Saturday.

“They have been first class in everything that they’ve done, everything that I’ve asked them to do. They’ve attacked it.

“Their attention in training, their detail in training, the way they’ve worked in training has been excellent.

“They wish they’d had a game last week. They obviously didn’t, but the whole focus after the Celtic game was two weeks later for the Ross County game.”

Motherwell have had contrasting news on the fitness front since their 3-1 defeat by Celtic with Jack Vale ruled out for a lengthy period with an Achilles injury.

But Callum Slattery will return from illness and Lennon Miller is back in full training following a hairline fracture of his ankle.

“It’s a huge boost,” Frail said of 18-year-old Miller’s return. “I think it’s been evident how good Lennon has been and how good a player he is. But we don’t want to heap too much pressure on him. He’s still a young lad.

“He’s coming back from an injury that’s kept him out for several weeks. But we do miss his quality. I think that’s plain to see. But we’ve still got other players in there who have the quality and maybe he can hopefully come in and add to that.”