Jack Vale has Motherwell appetite for big occasions after dining out on Blackburn cup heroics

Jack Vale dined out on huge cup goals at the lavish London Stadium and Carrow Road last season. But the Blackburn Rovers forward insists feasting on a winner for Motherwell at creaking Cappielow would be every bit as tasty as he dreams of getting his hands on silverware.

Rovers loanee Vale got his spell in Lanarkshire off to the perfect start on Tuesday when he climbed off the bench in Well’s 5-0 trouncing of Ross County to net in injury time. The 22-year-old hopes it’s the first of many with Well hitting their groove in perfect time for what he hopes is a run towards Hampden in the Scottish Cup.

Not that he’s a stranger to big stadiums. It’s little over a year since Vale’s career went into overdrive as he slammed the opener past Hammers keeper Alphonse Areola at a packed London Stadium. Rovers went on to win that EFL Cup tie on penalty kicks before he scored the only goal of the game to send Norwich packing in the FA Cup soon after. That run saw Blackburn reach the quarter final of the English game’s premier cup competition.

They’re fond memories. But Vale is desperate to create even bigger ones in Scotland by reaching Hampden. And it all starts in Greenock tonight at what is set to be a packed-out Cappielow. He said: “West Ham was a great memory for me, scoring against a Premier League team on their own ground – it was my first goal for Blackburn as well.

“They had a strong team out, too. I was up against their £30m Morocco defender Nayef Aguerd and Angelo Ogbonna. Scoring against them in that fabulous ground in front of their own fans proved to me that I could do the same against other big teams as well. Then I got the goal in our FA Cup tie at Norwich which took us through to the next round. Scotland centre-half