Star opens up on swapping Stoke City for Motherwell as stint at rivals aids settling in process
The midfielder joined Motherwell in the summer after time at Stoke City.
He’s not had any stick for once wearing Hamilton Accies colours - and Tom Sparrow insists he’s loving life at Motherwell.
The midfielder left Stoke City in the summer and joined up with Stuart Kettlewell’s side in ML1, who have a game with Dundee United in the Premiership midweek before a Premier Sports Cup semi-final with Rangers at Hampden on Sunday. He made his first start during a 3-0 loss to Celtic at Fir Park at the weekend.
Despite the result, Sparrow impressed during proceedings in the Motherwell engine room. Opening up on his move back to Lanarkshire - having previously spent time on loan at Hamilton from Stoke City - the midfielder says having prior knowledge of the area has been a hand.
Asked if he had any post-Hamilton digs, he replied: “No, not yet! Obviously it's a different league, so that's obviously a lot different. But I was used to the area and I'm in a similar area, so I guess it did help a little bit.
“I'm enjoying it. Everyone's been brilliant - gaffer, staff, all the lads are brilliant. I think we've made a good start, which has helped and now I'm enjoying it all. I felt fit and the staff here are really good.
“I've been coming on, but I've not been playing full games. I'm still up to speed with training and I think most of the lads will be the same. They're ready to go if they're called upon.”
Looking back on the Celtic game, it was the second goal by Alistair Johnston that he feels killed Motherwell chances of points, with that sandwiched between Luke McCowan and Adam Idah goals. There’s little time for rest though as Sparrow knows how big a week it is for the club.
He added: “I think the second goal, if you ask me where it was lost. I think up to the end, especially in the first 20 minutes, I thought we had some really good chances. We definitely should have been 1-0 up probably. We said at half-time that obviously we were 1-0 down but it was a ricochet for the goal and Aston Oxborough’s not really done anything else.
“They had a goal disallowed but then we came out for the second half and I thought we were okay in the game again. Then the second goal takes the wind out of us a little bit. But you're playing against a top-quality opposition, you switch off for one second and you're going to get punished.
“We've got three games this week but the next one's Wednesday and that's the most important, so we won't be looking past that.”