Motherwell

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

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As a former manager, Lee Miller can often find himself biting his tongue when it comes to offering football advice to son Lennon.

But the Motherwell midfielder can recall the one and only time his dad stepped in and gave him a "rocket" during his academy days.

Locking back, the teenager concedes it was something he needed.

"I was a young boy and I'd just recently joined Motherwell," Miller tells BBC Scotland.

"We played Rangers away and I think I got tackled early. I kind of went into my shell, playing Rangers, playing the badge really, and my dad hated it.

"He hated seeing me not wanting the ball and shying away from tackles. It wasn't me as a player. I've always got on the ball and been quite competitive and I wasn't that day."

Dad Lee added: "He was really within himself. It's pretty drastic when you think about it, but I remember thinking he's as good as them if not better.

"So after the game I had a go and I don't know if it was right or not, but he's said he needed that rocket."

This Sunday, Miller faces the same opposition at first-team level in the last four of the Scottish League Cup at Hampden.

With Paul McGinn and Stephen O'Donnell out injured, the youngster will lead out Motherwell as captain at the age of just 18.

It will undoubtedly be the biggest occasion of the teenager's young career, which seems destined for the top.

But whatever level Miller reaches, he will always reflect on that firm feedback as being key in his rapid development.

"I needed it," he adds. "It's probably helped me coming into first-team football.

"Nothing's going to be perfect, so you need to take these challenges as a young boy and implement them at senior level."

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Motherwell defender Stephen O'Donnell will miss the game after limping off against Dundee United on Wednesday.

Liam Gordon and Tony Watt return while Paul McGinn (thigh), Callum Slattery, Sam Nicholson (both knee), Harry Paton (ankle), Ross Callachan (hamstring) and Jack Vale (calf) are long-term absentees.

Vaclav Cerny is set to return to the Rangers squad after missing the midweek defeat at Aberdeen but fellow winger Ross McCausland is a doubt.

Ridvan Yilmaz and Rabbi Matondo are back training and will be assessed while Oscar Cortes and Danilo are still working with the physios.

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Stuart Kettlewell says Motherwell are "punching above their weight" this season, but insists they remain huge underdogs but reach the League Cup final despite Rangers' struggles.

Currently fourth in the Premiership, the Steelmen are only three points behind Rangers - their opponents in Sunday's semi-final.

"I believe we're doing well," manager Kettlewell added. "We're being resilient, [I've got] real trust in our players, real trust in what we're trying to do.

"I believe we're punching above our weight for where we're sitting.

"I don't really look at the league position, what I look at is, we've got 16 points at this minute in time, which I think is a very, very good start to the season.

"And I did say way back at the start of the season in the group stages this competition, our angle was always to try and get as far as we possibly could because we know how much excitement it can generate for a club like Motherwell, so we feel we're in a good position."

Rangers head to Hampden with manager Philippe Clement under intense pressure after the midweek defeat at Aberdeen left his team nine points off the Dons and Celtic.

"I still see them as a top, top football club," said Kettlewell.

"I think back to earlier in the season at Hampden when we played them in the league, and there was a spell for 30 to 35 minutes where they were electric.

"I know that's what they are absolutely capable of, so we prepare for that, we make sure that's a thing that's in our head.

"For Motherwell to progress in this competition I believe would be a huge upset as I think Rangers would be massive favourites by the size of the club and the investment.

"But we don't tell ourselves that, we don't think along those terms. We want to try and show our best version on Sunday and see where that takes us."

Jane Lewis
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

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Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has been speaking to the media before his side's League Cup semi-final against Rangers at Hampdn this weekend.

Here are the key points:

• Stephen O'Donnell will miss out with a leg muscle injury. Liam Gordon and Tony Watt come back into the squad.

• In O'Donnell and Paul McGinn's absence, Lennon Miller will captain the side. Kettlewell says the 18-year-old's "level of performance" inspires others.

• The Fir Park boss doesn't believe Rangers' current problems give his side a bigger opportunity and he's still viewing the Ibrox team as "massive favourites", saying "it will be a huge upset" if Motherwell win.

• Kettlewell insists Motherwell have shown resilience during their recent good form and they’ll go into this tie with confidence as they always do.

• He says the build-up to this one isn't different to other games, but admits as a one-off tie they’ll need to create opportunities.

• Kettlewell is loving the way the community is getting behind this semi-final, with 8,000 Motherwell tickets sold, and the manager says it's evident in the town that everyone one is "excited" for the match.

We asked for your views on Motherwell's 2-1 win against Dundee United that lifted the Steelmen fourth in the Premiership.

Here's what some of you said:

Derek: A much-needed result off the back of defeats against Dundee and Celtic. A good performance and glad to see Tawanda Maswanhise back in the side, his pace and drive will cause teams all sorts of problems and it's imperative he starts on Sunday in the semi-final. Fourth in the league and a semi final, definitely can't complain at that!

Col: We very much rode our luck last night which has often been the case this season. Resting some of our defensive midfield players for the upcoming semi worked well as it gave opportunities for more attack-minded tactics, something Stuart Kettlewell isn't renowned for. Maswanhise is a must start against Rangers after his two goals.

James: Again, not a terrific performance, but any points away from home are invaluable. I thought Ewan Wilson was outstanding. Great second goal, Maswanhise showed threat all night. On to Sunday. Nothing to fear.

Ryan: Didn't start the game well but hopefully if we play a similarly attacking team and have a go at Rangers we can put them on the back foot.

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As he prepares for the League Cup semi-final against Rangers, Motherwell midfielder Lennon Miller sits down with BBC Scotland's Nick McPheat for a candid interview in which he discusses coping with the death of his mum at the age of five, how that experience drives him and his ambitions for the future.

Listen to the full interview on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast

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• Dundee United attempted 428 passes in this game, their highest total in a single match in the Premiership this season.

• Tawanda Maswanhise won five fouls in this game, more than any other player.

• Dundee United attempted 17 shots in this match, higher than their season average of 10.4 in the Premiership.

• Motherwell attempted nine shots, with five (55%) from set-pieces.

• Despite defeat, United had a higher xG (1.43) than Motherwell (1.11).

Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin struggled to comprehend how his side lost 2-1 at home to Motherwell on Wednesday. (Courier - subscription), external

Read Thursday's Scottish gossip

Motherwell prepared for their League Cup semi-final meeting with Rangers with a hard-fought victory against Dundee United at Tannadice to leapfrog their opponents into fourth place in the Scottish Premiership.

What did you make of Motherwell's performance? Are you confident of beating Rangers in Sunday's semi-final?

Let us know your thoughts here, external.

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Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell: "They certainly made us work for it. We were never going to come on this pitch and stroll through it.

"In the first half they caused us real problems in the wide areas. But I felt the solutions were on the pitch and we made them change in the second half when we dealt with that threat.

"We grew in the second half to be honest and I thought we showed a wee bit more composure. We know that we've got that bit of quality and it was Tawanda that came up with the goods for us.

"We had to dig in at times and we showed our quality at times, and that's what it's always going to have to be like on the road in this league.

"I don't foresee any one of the senior players coming back [for Sunday] other than Tony Watt being available and Liam Gordon coming back into the squad."

Thomas Duncan
BBC Sport Scotland

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Tawanda Maswanhise was one of three changes to the Motherwell team for this game, and he put his hand up to start against Rangers at Hampden.

His pace and ability to drive with the ball is such a valuable skill in this league, and even aside from his goals he was Motherwell's biggest threat.

Twice he drew bookings by surging forward and forcing United defenders to haul him down in fear of the damage he could do on the break.

His first strike was a calm first-time effort, and the second goal epitomised his threat.

The Zimbabwean was alert enough to close down Emmanuel Adegoboyega, then quick enough to sprint clear. The composure to dink Jack Walton was the most impressive.

Rangers' struggling backline lacks pace, and Maswanhise must come into Stuart Kettlewell's thoughts for the biggest game of Motherwell's season.

Motherwell make three changes after the loss to Celtic. Liam Gordon is suspended while Davor Zdravkovski and Andy Halliday drop to the bench.

In come Dan Casey, Steve Seddon, and Tawanda Maswanhise.

• Follow the action

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• Dundee United have lost two of their last three league meetings with Motherwell (W1). They could lose back-to-back such matches against the Steelmen for the first time since March 2016, and could also lose back-to-back home league games against them for the first time since April 2013.

• Motherwell have only won one of their last nine away league games at newly promoted sides (D4 L4), although that was the most recent, beating Dundee 3-2 in April last season.

• Dundee United have won two of their last three home league games (L1), as many as their previous 10 on home soil in the Scottish Premiership beforehand (W2 D2 L6).

• Motherwell have won six of their last 10 away league games (L4), as many as their previous 30 on the road beforehand (W6 D12 L12).

• Motherwell's Tony Watt has scored four goals in his five Scottish Premiership starts against former side Dundee United, netting in both of his last two against them.

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Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin expects to be selecting from an unchanged squad, with Craig Sibbald (groin), Louis Moult (knee), Ross Docherty (muscular) and Ross Graham (hamstring) all set to remain sidelined.

Liam Gordon is suspended for Motherwell while on-loan United forward Tony Watt is ineligible.

Paul McGinn (thigh), Callum Slattery, Sam Nicholson (both knee), Harry Paton (ankle), Ross Callachan (hamstring) and Jack Vale (calf) are long-term absentees.

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Motherwell assistant manager Stephen Frail says the squad are "fully focused" on their Scottish Premiership fixture this midweek, despite the League Cup semi-final looming on Sunday.

The Fir Park side host Dundee United on Wednesday evening, with a chance to leapfrog them into fourth spot with a victory, before the weekend meeting with Rangers at Hampden.

"Sunday will take care of itself," said Frail. "I know it's cliched but all our focus, our team selection, is nothing in mind about Sunday.

"Our team selection for tomorrow night is based on tomorrow night's game, we're not looking ahead to Sunday at the minute.

"You could end up prioritising Sunday and we don't want to.

"We'll prioritise Sunday after the game tomorrow night but our focus and trust is fully on Dundee United because winning games in the league is very, very difficult.

"We need to make sure that we are fully concentrated and focused to go and do that.

"It'll be a tough game but I think it's good, fourth versus fifth, if we win we go above them but the motivation for us is just to get the three points.

"This is a big game for us, it's a huge game, and we want to make sure we win it."

Jenna Thomson
Fan writer

Motherwell suffered a predictable but still painful victory at the weekend.

The Celtic game couldn't have came at a worse time in our season. Although I can't defend our performance much, it is just one of those things.

You don't want to lie down and let them run a riot, but at the same time I would’ve preferred if we had rested our main players for that game and also Wednesday night's trip to Tannadice.

While Liam Gordon's sending off is a blow for us, it's a huge relief he will be available for the League Cup semi-final against Rangers this weekend.

The league games against Celtic and United won't define our season, but the weekend trip to Hampden could.

As a club this is our biggest moment since we qualified for Europe under Graham Alexander.

A Motherwell-Aberdeen final would be great, so hopefully we can do our part by beating Rangers on Sunday.

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Tom Sparrow says being pitched in for his first Motherwell start against Celtic will stand him in good stead as the Steelmen prepare to face the other half of the Old Firm for a place in the League Cup fnal.

The midfielder returned from minor surgery to line up alongside Marvin Kaleta - who was also making his first start - in Sunday's 3-0 home defeat to the champions.

Sparrow had a chance to open the scoring but could not beat Kasper Schmeichel from 20 yards before Celtic took control of the game.

Motherwell have a league trip to Dundee United on Wednesday before heading to Hampden on Sunday for the semi-final showdown with Rangers.

Wales Under-21 international Sparrow said: "I've been working hard since I came in and I knew that I wouldn't be going straight in. But I'm happy to have got the first one and hopefully there's more to come.

"I knew it was going to be a lot of running. But they're top-quality opposition so when you've got the ball you need to look after it, because otherwise you're going to spend a lot of time without it.

"I thought that they had a lot of the ball but at times we weren't bad either and definitely caused them some problems.

"Obviously it was my first one against Celtic but there were a few lads who again it was their first one. Obviously there are a few that have done it a lot of times but we'll only get better for it and in the future we'll definitely learn the lessons.

"You're playing against top-quality opposition, you switch off for one second and you're going to get punished."

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

Motherwell put in a solid shift at Fir Park on Sunday against Celtic, despite the 3-0 scoreline there were positives to take, and they have one player in my Team of the Week.

Lennon Miller, the current great hope of the Scottish game, showed once again that he thrives on the big stage. Rattled the woodwork twice in the early stages against Celtic followed by another attempt at goal soon after.

We asked for your views on Motherwell's 3-0 loss against Celtic.

Here's what some of you said:

George: Night and day from the previous week with regard to effort and organisation. The team worked hard and outplayed Celtic for the first 25 minutes. Didn't take our chances and paid for it against a quality team. We'd beat most other teams with that performance.

George: Not remotely disappointed in the final outcome. The first quarter of the match was actually very encouraging but with our present squad it's almost impossible for the team to sustain that level for very long. The midfield as usual was a major problem but the defence looked more vulnerable than recently with dropping too deep and not confronting attackers sooner.