'Well boss McGhee dismisses Ugwu link

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee urges his troops on against Celtic last Saturday (Pic by Alan Watson)

The powerful 23-year-old forward has been in scintillating form in the National League this season, hitting 12 goals in the first 20 matches.

But McGhee told the Motherwell Times that he is happy with the strikers already at his disposal and won’t be adding Ugwu.

The Fir Park gaffer said: “I don’t know anything about it.

“We still have to find out how Jacob Blyth is going to do when he comes back from injury.

“And we also have Ryan Bowman who is very usable. He can’t get in because of Moulty and Scotty.

“Dylan Mackin is there and I’m trying to use Lionel Ainsworth as a striker.

“It’s not impossible that Martin Foyle (Motherwell scout) went to watch him (Ugwu). Or it might have been an agent who brought this up.”

McGhee said it had taken him a while to get over losing 4-3 to Celtic in such heartbreaking circumstances last Saturday, having led 2-0 at half-time and 3-2 late in the second half.

“We were brilliant in the first half,” McGhee said.

“Celtic then upped their game in the second half.

“They got a goal really early and then later on scored one right after we’d gone 3-2 up.

“We weren’t able to hang on. It was just one of those things.

“We have to find a way of making sure we don’t concede.”

When asked if a lack of experience on the Motherwell bench had contributed towards his team’s downfall, McGhee said that if Carl McHugh, Lee Lucas and the aforementioned Blyth had all been available as subs then that could have made a major difference in terms of helping the team hold on.

McGhee said that Motherwell were also unlucky when about to make a tactical switch when 2-1 up in the 68th minute.

He added: “We were looking to strengthen the centre of the park by moving Chris Cadden there.

“We were going to move Louis Moult right and put Scott McDonald up front.

“We had made that change when Chris put his hand up to say he was injured. So we took him off.

“Scott had to go back into midfield, with Louis up front and Lionel inside.”

Ninth placed Motherwell now face a crucial home game against sixth placed Kilmarnock – who are just two points ahead of ’Well – at Fir Park this Saturday.

“The best way to get over losing to Celtic is to beat Kilmarnock this Saturday,” McGhee said.

“We will give ourselves a chance if we play as well as we did against Celtic. Kilmarnock would need to play well to beat us.”