Mika Biereth salutes Motherwell fans after his goal earned them a valuable point against St Johnstone (Image: SNS Group)

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell: Saints draw proves we have each other's backs

The Fir Park gaffer was delighted with Mika Biereth's strike to earn a point against St Johnstone

by · Daily Record

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says their last-gasp 1-1 draw with St Johnstone proves he and his players have each other’s back.

Mika Biereth struck in stoppage time to earn a valuable point, after goalkeeper Liam Kelly and defender Bevis Mugabi contrived to score an own-goal from a Matt Smith free kick eight minutes after the break.

That means their winless Scottish Premiership run is stretched to 13 games, but the point took a lot of pressure off Kettlewell.

He said: “I don’t think about it, it’s not something that goes through my mind.

“I probably just felt that we at least got our just rewards for what the game was and everything that happened in the game.

“We looked through the stats and we had significantly more of the ball, more efforts on goal, more on target, more crosses into the box and all these types of things.

“I think it suggested that in many ways we deserved something out of the game.

“I felt the players got what they deserved out of the game, but in saying that, when the emotion is the way it is, when you’re on the run that you are on just now, it certainly doesn’t stop the fact that it makes our group feel a hell of a lot better, and the environment in this stadium becomes better.

“It’s not what we wanted, we didn’t want to just pick up a point, we were avidly going for three, but I felt our confidence took another dip when we conceded that silly goal.

Biereth's header two minutes into stoppage time was crucial for Motherwell (Image: SNS Group)

“For about 10, maybe 15 minutes, I just felt as if there was a little bit of nervousness and a little bit of negativity crept in.

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“But fair play to the group, I think what it shows to everybody is that we’re still here, we’re still fighting, we’re still together.

“I think they’ve got each other’s back, I think they’ve got my back, and I think I’ve got theirs.

“I keep telling folk to come into this dressing room, this football club at any moment, you’ll see how together we are, how much we believe in one another.

Motherwell's Georgie Gent tussles for possession with St Johnstone's James Brown (Image: SNS Group)

“That’s not just to make everybody feel good, and for everybody to start patting each other on the back.

“It’s just very simply that we know we’re going through a tough spell.”

Kettlewell was pleased with top scorer Biereth, who has netted six times in 11 games, and says he fought to stay on the park.

“ I was delighted with the goal,” he said.

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says the result shows how much is side are fighting for each other, and for him (Image: SNS Group)

“The little bit that comes off it is that Mika Biereth could have been off the pitch at half-time, he was struggling with a twisted ankle, and a lot of players would have been off the pitch at that stage.

“For a young guy here on loan from Arsenal, it shows how much he’s in with the cause, and that delights me.”

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