Tim Clancy loving Fir Park life

Published on Tuesday 1 May 2012 00:00

TIM Clancy has more reasons than most of his Motherwell team-mates to savour a potentially momentous season as the Lanarkshire side enter the final stages of their race for a Champions League place.

The defender began the season on the fringes at Kilmarnock before being signed as cover by Fir Park manager Stuart McCall in August. Even with Steven Saunders injured, Motherwell’s back four looked secure with Tom Hateley, Stevie Hammell, Shaun Hutchinson and Stephen Craigan performing well. But Clancy is in line to make his 28th appearance for the club as Motherwell look to extend their five-point lead in third place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash when they face Hearts at Tynecastle tonight.

Apart from a two-month spell after being sent off against Celtic in November, Clancy has held down a place at centre-back. “I’ve been delighted with how things have turned out,” the 27-year-old said. “I’ve played a lot of games so I’m quite happy, and when you’re playing in a team that’s winning it makes going to work a lot easier. It’s just the final push now and hopefully we can pick up a few more wins.”

While Clancy has been pleased with his personal return, he could not have imagined the collective reward Motherwell are close to securing. McCall’s side secured European football with a 5-1 win over St Johnstone on Saturday and victory at Tynecastle would leave Dundee United with a mountain to climb to deprive them of a Champions League qualifying spot. “Celtic and Rangers are normally one and two in the league,” he said. “With the Rangers situation it has opened the door for the next in line. If we can get a positive result against Hearts it will hopefully help us finish third. We have worked really hard all season and spent most of the season in third. We dropped out a few months back when we had two games in hand and we won in midweek against Dunfermline to get ourselves back in there. We are very determined, we want to get as many wins as we can.”

Taken from the Scotsman