Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell urges crackdown on 'rugby-style' challenges

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says the Scottish FA needs to crack down on strikers ‘making a back’ for defenders, in what he classes as the most dangerous challenge in any sport.

Ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Hibs at Easter Road, the Fir Park club’s physios will need to assess defender Liam Gordon who crashed to the artificial surface at Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park during Wednesday night’s 0-0 draw, under one of those challenges by striker Marley Watkins.

Former St Johnstone captain Gordon rose to head the ball away, with Watkins putting his hips in, causing the defender to fall over the top of him, head-first, onto the pitch.

Kilmarnock boss Derek McInnes was furious to see his star booked for the challenge, but Kettlewell has been talking about incidents such as these for at least a year, and wants more people to be aware of the dangers.

Kettlewell said: “You see Liam Gordon coming off the park, with two really heavy blows. Not a concussion, I have to say, so the guys are pretty content with that, but we will have to assess him.

“The first one is the challenge that I’ve been speaking about for a long time, it’s the one where the defender goes to attack the ball, and I keep talking about this ‘making a back’ as they call it in rugby, that’s exactly what happens.

“The defender is committed, off the ground, and as soon as you put any kind of touch on the defender, put your backside in, lean in to him, you’ll see what happens.

“We’ve actually got a still where he [Gordon] goes full length and is landing on a really hard surface, and it’s his neck and his head that’s breaking the fall, which is never a good thing.

“There are a lot of complaints, I think, about Marley Watkins getting yellow carded, but it’s nailed-on for