Motherwell boss surprised by added time decision in Rangers loss as latest injury sparks concern

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has admitted concern over new signing Apostolos Stamatelopoulos’ injury - as the second half injury time against Rangers sparked surprise.

The Steelmen went down 2-1 at Hampden Park after first half goals from Cyriel Dessers and Vaclav Cerny. Motherwell got a leveller in the first half through a Robin Propper own goal and pushed their hosts at Hampden Park all the way in an improved second half performance.

A major negative from the game, however, was the injury to Stamatelopoulos, having been missing seven senior players from his matchday squad already through injury. He went down with a thigh injury before half-time and Kettlewell has confirmed that it isn’t great. The boss said: “It doesn’t look good, he had a bit of tightness in his thigh.

“I think he has then stopped. Sometimes we associate it with stretching but he actually stops and at that point he has felt a much sharper pain in his thigh. He seems really robust, played a lot of games of football and generally been available and fit, as are a number of the guys who are out injured.

“We are obviously worried about it. I won’t go into too much more detail until we see the right specialist and get things scanned. It doesn’t look great.”

With Motherwell pressing hard to get a leveller, only two minutes of added time was provided at the end of the game. When asked about the lack of additional time, Kettlewell thought there would be more.

He said: “I got it in the first half, we had more injuries than would we expect. I am screaming at players to get up to continue with the game as I normally do. We had numerous changes in the second half from both sides. Their centre-back goes off and I felt there was more than two minutes to be played.

“There was real surprise from myself. Whether that makes a difference in the game I don’t know. It certainly seems when you are looking for a bit more added time, it’s not there.”

On the game, Kettlewell added: “I thought we were a bit stand-offish in the first half. I thought we gave Rangers too much ground and showing them a bit too much respect in the game.

“Without changing anything ridiculously tactically in the second half, I felt we started to become a bit more aggressive and on the front foot. We go into the dying embers of the game and you feel you have most of the pressure towards their goal, you are hoping for that standout chance.

“I think back to Zach Robinson’s strike at goal, a world-class save by Jack Butland. A little bit disappointed on that quality save. We potentially could have a bit more quality in the second half but I think everyone can see what we are dealing with here.

“I am really pleased with the players’ reaction in the second half. Never pleased with a defeat but I thought we showed a really good response against a team I thought were flying for spells in the first half.”