Stephen O'Donnell reveals 'devastating' Motherwell injury timing as he makes Mr Reliable pledge to get in starting XI

Stephen O'Donnell was devastated when a torn hamstring deprived him of his first ever Hampden semi final last month. Not only that but with Paul McGinn injured too he was in line to lead Motherwell into battle with Rangers at the national stadium.

It wasn’t to be as the 32-year-old suffered the agonising tear in the first half of the 2-1 win over Dundee United just four days before that League Cup semi defeat to the Ibrox side. But O’Donnell has bounced back quickly - and gunning to force his way back into the side ahead of the next opportunity to reach Hampden. He said: “I tore my hamstring. I’ve done it once before but it wasn't as bad as that. The timing of it was pretty devastating. I was on the brink of possibly captaining, but more importantly, playing my first semi-final at Hampden.

“I’ve never achieved that. It's not an achievement because you then want to go on and play in the final. But I was pretty disappointed. I'd set a target to try and be fit for the final, and I was. Obviously, I watched it on Sunday. It was a good game. The injury was just a frustration. There was no sign previously that it was going to happen. But I’m back fit, so it's behind me, hopefully.

“The target now is to get to the semi-final as quickly as I can. The next one is the Scottish Cup and I would love it, and all the players would.”

Before that Motherwell face a hectic festive week starting this evening against his former club Kilmarnock at Fir Park before tackling both sides of the Old Firm in the space of three days with a Boxing Day trip to Celtic Park followed by a home meeting with Rangers.

O’Donnell will need to fight to oust Marvin Kaleta from the wide right berth as fourth-placed Well look to make it three wins on the spin.