Stuart Kettlewell 'has to laugh' at Andy Halliday commitment claims after Hampden defeat to Rangers

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has said he “has to laugh” at any questions over Andy Halliday’s commitment after he refused to celebrate his goal against Rangers in the League Cup semi-final.

Rangers fought back from a goal down to defeat Motherwell 2-1 at Hampden and reach the Premier Sports Cup final on Sunday.

Former Ibrox man Halliday met a cross to poke the ball past Jack Butland in the first half, giving Motherwell the lead, before Cyriel Dessers and Nedim Bajrami scored the vital goals to give Rangers the win.

Halliday didn’t celebrate against his old club, a move which has since seen him receive criticism, something that his manager Stuart Kettlewell doesn’t agree with.

“For anybody that questions Andy Halliday’s commitment, I have to laugh at it to be honest with you”, he said.

“To make that run inside the box, to get on the end of that cross. If Andy Halliday didn’t care about this football club and didn’t his job seriously, wasn’t concerned about Motherwell and what Motherwell achieve, then very simply be standing outside the 18 yard box.

“That’s how I look at it. Understand that people always question celebrations, he’s 33 years old and he covered 12 and a half kilometres in a game of football. So if you think he’s not committed to get the number at 33, then again I have to laugh at that. Andy served Rangers very, very well. Well documented that he’s been a Ranger supporter growing up and all the rest of it, he’s fully committed to this football club.

“I think all he was doing was a little bit respect towards Rangers. Would I have acted different? Would you have acted different? Potentially, we don’t know, we don’t know until we’re in that position.

“But I certainly don’t question his commitment towards this football club. I haven’t for one second since he’s been here and I certainly didn’t when he was trying to get on the end of that cross.”

The manager is determined to ensure his team do not suffer any Hampden hangover but they will need to bounce back from their defeat by Rangers without Stephen O’Donnell.

The defender missed the 2-1 Premier Sports Cup semi-final defeat by Rangers with a hamstring injury and will remain out beyond Saturday’s William Hill Premiership visit of St Johnstone.

Kettlewell said: “Very simply, he’s going to be out for a period of time. It’s difficult to put the exact date on that but we know categorically he’ll be out for at least another four weeks and potentially into December.”

The Well boss quickly addressed the need to move on from the Hampden defeat with his players.

“That’s what I said, don’t have a hangover and that disappointment,” he said. “But you’ve got another opportunity to do it as well. As difficult as that might be, this football club under Stephen Robinson managed to do that some six years ago, get to Hampden a few times in the season.

“But I don’t think you’ll ever achieve anything unless you’re taking care of the league action. So very simply, they have to take the good aspects of it, you have to be motivated by the negative side of it.

“I said very simply that I felt at times that we can handle the ball better and that’s something we have to try and strive towards to create more opportunities.

“But it’s not just about cup football, that’s about trying to take that into league action for us as well. That’s something we’ve picked up on when we come back in on Tuesday and that’s something that continues week upon week, day upon day.”