Carl McHugh: We expect to compete well and beat favourites Celtic

Motherwell FC skipper Carl McHugh will this Saturday bid to become only the third man in the club's 132-year history to lead 'Well to a Scottish Cup triumph.
Motherwell skipper Carl McHugh hopes to be walking up the famous Hampden Park steps to collect the Scottish Cup this SaturdayMotherwell skipper Carl McHugh hopes to be walking up the famous Hampden Park steps to collect the Scottish Cup this Saturday
Motherwell skipper Carl McHugh hopes to be walking up the famous Hampden Park steps to collect the Scottish Cup this Saturday

And the 25-year-old Irishman is aware of what is needed at Hampden Park against a rampant Celtic team trying to win a historic double treble.

“Obviously it would be unbelievable to skipper Motherwell to a Scottish Cup victory,” McHugh said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It would be the biggest achievement of my career by a long way.

“It’s something we’re all striving towards and we’re all going to put everything into.

“We’re all going to give everything to the cause and hopefully we can do it.

“We’re fully confident we can do it and go and win the game.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I think it would be brilliant for the whole area. You can see everybody’s coming out in their numbers and there’s a bit of excitement building.

“It would be just unbelievable for the fans and the people behind the scenes who’ve been through a lot of hard times with the club and the area in general.

“We’ve given them everything we’ve got this year. We’ve worked so hard every game and every day in training.

“It would just be brilliant to win it with this group of boys, so special.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Motherwell have recorded two draws in the league against Celtic this season. If the same thing happens this Saturday, there is the nail biting prospect of extra time and penalties!

“I don’t care,” McHugh said. “As long as we win the game I’ll take it any way we can.

“We can really turn our attention to it now because we’ve had these games to play.

“In the main we’ve done quite well in these games, take out the St Johnstone game.

“We’re really looking forward to it.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Former Plymouth Argyle ace McHugh – who will have family members and friends over to see Saturday’s Hampden showpiece – will be in the thick of the action again having missed last month’s 3-0 semi-final success over Aberdeen through suspension.

“It was tough watching the semi-final but thankfully we got through and that was the main thing,” he added.

“Growing up these are the games you want to play in and cup finals, and the main thing is we want to win it now.

“We fully believe we can do it.

“We need to be right at the top of our game and do what we’re good at. You need a bit of luck to win cup finals as well.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We’ve full confidence we can go there and get the result we want.

“Everyone expects Celtic to win the game and that’s fine by us. It suits us being underdogs.

“We’ll have 15,000 fans there which is great for them. Hopefully we’ll be sending them home happy.”

After last season’s long and arduous battle against relegation, this campaign has been much better for the Steelmen with seventh place and an appearance in the Betfred Cup final already secured.

“It’s a big improvement on last season,” McHugh said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We were disappointed we didn’t get in the top six because that was one of our aims at the start of the season.

“But I think if you get to two cup finals it kind of cushions the blow a bit. And then obviously you finish seventh is the next best you can hope for after the split.

“There’s a lot of positives moving forward but we’ve got one more massive game and we want to make a good season an unbelievable season.”