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12.20pm
Eric Black has angrily denied the report that appeared in a
national newspaper last week which claimed that a number of his first team squad
were set to be shown the door. The article reported that Stevie Woods, Jon
Connolly, Greg Strong, Kevin Twaddle, Andy Dow, Roberto Martinez and Paul Harvey
were all looking for new clubs after being told by Black that they weren't in
his plans, but Eric hit back saying:
"I was not pleased with the article at all. In fact, I thought it was a
complete disgrace as there is not an ounce of truth in the whole story. The
whole thing is incorrect. If I'm going to tell a player he has no future
with the club then I will tell him straight to his face and not through the
newspapers. None of these players mentioned in the story have been told to
leave."
Black went on to confirm that he is still looking to strengthen
his squad:
"We are always looking to strengthen the squad and we have had a number
of trialists, but nothing is really happening on the signing front at the
moment."
Eric was delighted with the performance of his players in the 2-2 draw with
Rangers last week, and challenged his players to produce the same level of
commitment away from home:
"I was very happy with the performance from the players on Saturday and
I thought we deserved to take something from the game. They showed a
tremendous battling spirit and to come back after going a goal behind to the Old
Firm shows the character of the players. One of the most pleasing aspects
was that we created a number of opportunities throughout the game and the most
important thing now is to try and repeat our home form on the road. Our
second-half showing at the back against Hibs, plus the display against Rangers,
was heartening as we know we have to keep it much tighter defensively away from
home to have a chance. Every time we have performed well at Fir Park we
haven't taken the positives into our next game which has usually been away from
home, so I'm hoping we can start doing this against Hearts."
Looking forward to Saturday's trip to Tynecastle, Eric added:
"Tynecastle is a very difficult ground to go to at the best of times to
try and get three points, as they have started to play well and pick up wins.
However, all the players are confident after Saturday and if we can keep it
tight at the back for 90 minutes then we have a good chance of taking something
from the game. A lot has been made about our defensive mistakes, but we
must learn to defend from the front and I have been happy with the reaction I
have received from the players in terms of defending following the Livingston
game. Hopefully, we can keep it going."
Keith Lasley, Yann Soloy and Stuart Elliott are all struggling
with knocks but should make the trip to Edinburgh, although Karl Ready is
suspended.
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