Motherwell keeper wants to keep fans happy with cup progress

Daily Record

2 days ago

Calum Ward is looking to put a smile on supporters' faces
Calum Ward hopes Motherwell can put a smile on fans' faces by knocking St Johnstone out of the Premier Sports Cup.
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Motherwell will head to McDiarmid Park in Perth as favourites in the last-16 clash, but Ward is conscious that they haven't won a league game yet.
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However, the English keeper is confident that the Steelmen will progress in the competition, kick-starting their campaign.
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He said: 'St Johnstone have started the season really strongly, six points out of six.
'They'll probably do really well in that league. We know it's going to be a tough place, but we're confident in ourselves that we can go and play the football we do and try and beat them next week.
'You really want to do really well in the Cups. It's another good chance to keep the fans happy. Going on a cup run is really important for the club and we'll try and do our best next week.'
Ward, 24, was called into action to save from Alex Gogic as Motherwell battled out a 0-0 draw with St Mirren in Paisley on Saturday, while at the other end, Shamal George saved smartly from Ibrahim Said and Callum Slattery.
The Essex-born shot-stopper said: 'Possibly it was a fair result, but I feel like we could have taken all three.
'We played some really good stuff in the first half and some really good stuff in the second.
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'We just lacked that cutting edge at the end. We always knew it was going to be tough coming here. We said at half-time, if we can't get the goal and get the win, we'll take the point.'
On his second-half save, Ward said: 'I had to judge that he's going to win that ball, and just drop off and then flicked it on and just did my job. It had to be a strong hand because I had to get it over the bar. I was happy with it.
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'We knew that they put crosses in the box, corners, and they caused us problems in the first half and second, and then that ball was coming, it was windy, it was tough.'
Having drawn 1-1 at home to Rangers Motherwell have two points so far, but Ward is content with that, from difficult games.
He said: 'It's better than two losses, for sure. We obviously want to win games like everyone, but if we can't get the three points, we'll take the draw, especially at a place like this.
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'Obviously we were confident in ourselves last week going into the game, but we obviously take the point.
'We could have won the game easily at the end. And chances we had, we just lacked that little bit of finishing touch.
'And if we had that, we would have clearly had six points out of six, but we'll take the two.'
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Ward came through the youth set-up at AFC Bournemouth and was sent out on loan for a few spells before landing permanently at HIFK in Finland, and from there he moved to AC Oulu, and Motherwell.
Having signed a contract extension at the start of this season, Ward is happy in Lanarkshire.
He said: 'I got the chance to start the season, play a few pre-season games to get used to how the manager wants me to play and the team to play.
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'So I'm happy with how we've played so far, yeah.
'It wasn't the greatest start getting lobbed in the Premier Sports Cup [against Clyde], but then we just worked on it. We played well in the game. We just implemented that style of play that we want to do.
'It has been good. I've enjoyed taking my chance and just trying to continue to do that.
'In the first half and a lot of the game last week, it looks really good when it works. Obviously, we're going to make mistakes but the manager said that to us and we're getting that on board.
'We know that mistakes will happen, but we'll keep doing the right things and keep being brave. When it is successful, it looks really good.'