news-engine

Regan Charles Cook sets Motherwell a 'mission' for cup glory amid Europa League heroics The Steelmen lost last season's semi-final to St Mirren and are keen to put things right in this season's Premier Sports Cup Regan Charles-Cook has insisted Motherwell will put Freiburg on the back burner because all their focus will be on 'Operation Hampden'. The Steelmen take on last season’s Europa League finalists in the first-leg of their play-off at Fir Park on Thursday evening. Charles-Cook accepts the visit from the Bundesliga giants is something to look forward to, but the main focus must be seeing off Stenhousemuir away in the Premier Sports Cup. Motherwell reached the semi-final of the competition last season and disappointingly lost to St Mirren. Now, getting redemption at Hampden is a major motivation. Charles-Cook said: “That is the mission. All eyes on Hampden. Hopefully, we can beat Stenny and then we go from there. “If doesn’t matter who we have. We will always aim to try and win the competition. Thursday is in the back of the mind just now and that is where it stays. “Of course, it was a big blow against St Mirren. That one hurt. We are looking to make things right, as much as we can. We will take that energy. We know what we did wrong last season and we will try to make it right.” Marvin Bartley will be looking for his Warriors to cause an upset on their artificial pitch and to catch Motherwell with a European hangover after Thursday’s win over HJK. . Charles-Cook insisted: “It doesn’t matter what pitch, we will just go out there and play our game. “The pressure will be on us. It will beg important that we eat right and sleep right and to make sure we are ready for the next game “We won’t look too far ahead. We have Stenhousemuir. We want to get as far in the competition as we can and challenge for it. We will put all our focus on that. We had a little celebration in the changing room after the HJK game, but now it is all eyes on Stenny away.” Motherwell youngster Olly Whyte should be able to give Motherwell an insight into Stenhousemuir as he had a successful loan there last season. He confirmed: “Yes, I think Olly Whyte was there. “He came on against HJK and was brilliant, like he has every time he has come on. It is a good seeing the young talent coming up through the academy and showing what they have got. Olly is built like he has been lifting 100kg for how long. It will be a tough battle against Stenny. They will come out firing looking to cause an upset. We are not going in lightly. We will go in like we do every game.” Motherwell are now six games without defeat under Johansson. Charles-Cook thinks the win over HJK on Thursday brought the best atmosphere he has seen at home. He stated: “Fir Park was bouncing. “It feels great because the European adventure continues, so that is good. “All the boys performed really well. “That was one of our best performances, from the start, this year. “Of course, we always go into every game confident that we can get the job done. It doesn’t matter who it is. “We stuck to the game plan. “We knew what we wanted to do against HJK. “We looked at the video of the first game and it was successful.” Ibrahim Said was the Motherwell hero with two goals. Said was sharp and Charles-Cook put that down to this new haircut. He joked: “I saw his new trim. “He took off the hair. Iby is Iby. He is brilliant with the ball at his feet in tight areas. Both goals, as you saw, were wow. We hope he gets his passport for Germany. I am in no doubt he will be with us because he is an important part of the squad. He is a big talent and we are proud of him.”