Motherwell boss happy as goalkeeper kept quiet in cup win

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell said his side’s win over Edinburgh City “ticked all the boxes” but goalkeeper Krisztian Hegyi had no saves to make.

Goals from Kofi Balmer, Dan Casey and Stephen O’Donnell gave the Steelmen a comfortable win in their Premier Sports Cup Group G opener.

But although Kettlewell says his goalkeeper was left standing for the full 90 minutes on his competitive debut, he was pleased his stars entertained the Fir Park crowd, who packed the 2,587-strong stadium.

He said: “The first point is you want to win, the second thing is you want a clean sheet and then you want to score a few goals and hope everyone comes away unscathed, especially at this time of year.

“It feels like we scored all those points. Everyone can see we were in full control and our goalkeeper didn’t have to touch the ball with his gloves.

“Give Edinburgh credit, they were very organised and came with a good game plan.

“I was trying to raise the standards until the last part of the game because when the fans come, patting them on the back doesn’t amuse me.

“It was about getting the message out there to go and get in a position where you catch people’s attention and show that you’re a good player.”

New signing Balmer started well, sending a shot that went just inches wide of the box and hitting the post with his head.

Kettlewell said: “Kofi is someone we are happy to have and he gives us another option by contributing his goal.

“He has a ridiculously long pass, something I don’t want to do but we could use.

“He looked assured, comfortable without the ball and is improving his communication.

“One thing we had to do was keep more clean sheets. We were the third highest scorers but we wanted to improve that record in the back line and that’s why there were some new faces there.

“We don’t sign the perfect player. We give them time on the pitch and try to develop them.”

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