Motherwell goalie looking to keep the gloves for a long time

Aston Oxborough has been patient for two years to get hold of the goalie gloves at Motherwell – and hopes he’s not letting go for a long time yet.

The 26-year-old Englishman was given the nod by boss Stuart Kettlewell for Saturday’s Premiership curtain-raiser at home to Ross County, and impressed in the 0-0 draw.

Oxborough was brought in by then-boss Graham Alexander as understudy to Liam Kelly in summer 2022, and has had a smattering of appearances.

But with Kelly having moved to Ibrox, Motherwell brought in Hungarian keeper Krisztian Hegyi to fight for the first-team place.

Aston appears to have won that battle, at least for now, and wants the chance to stay there.

He said: “I’m pleased with that. It’s the first league game under my belt, and I was fairly pleased with how it went, just gutted we couldn’t get the three points.

“I’ve been here for two years, this is my third year, and it has been my goal the whole time.

“I’ve had to wait a bit, but I’m happy it has happened today.

“It’s important for any player to stay on the pitch, and I guess you could say it’s more important for me, having missed a lot of football.

“But I try not to put that pressure on myself, just take it game by game, keep doing what I’m doing, and hopefully I’ll stay there.

“I’ve had to be patient, of course. I was understudy to Liam for a few years and he’s a really good goalkeeper, so no complaints, but getting on with it, now.”

Oxborough had some fairly routine moments to deal with, but County’s Ronan Hale did force a terrific save with a free kick in the second half, and former Norwich City kid Aston was pleased to have been equal to it.

He said: “He [Hale] bent it round the wall from the free kick, I managed to scramble across and get a hand