Source: FOOTYMAD
Use Every Opportunity To Show What You Can Do
International football is the pinnacle for footballers to aim for. Motherwell goalkeeper Darren Randolph is encouraging teammates James Murphy and fellow winger Chris Humphrey to use the Scottish Cup final to stake their claim for an international spot. Kingston-born Humphrey, whose mother is from Kilmarnock, has been invited to join up with the Jamaica squad and is considering taking up invitation despite Scotland manager Craig Levein admitting the winger was in his thoughts. Randolph said: "We were all surprised Murph wasn't in the young player of the year running. But they can use Saturday and other stages to show they should have been in there and should be picked. The big occasions are when they say the big players show up and I have no doubt our boys will do that on Saturday." The final is yet another vindication of the former Charlton goalkeeper's decision to join Motherwell despite ending last season in Athletic's first team. Randolph moved as he was looking for regular first-team football and his form - keeping 17 clean sheets - has earned him a Republic of Ireland call-up. More Europa League football awaits 'Well if they beat Celtic on Saturday to clinch their first cup win for 20 years. Motherwell would join the SPL runners-up in the third qualifying round, the stage before they exited against Danish side Odense this season after missing numerous chances at Fir Park. Randolph said: "Hopefully we can get back in Europe and do one better than we did at the start of the season. We were unlucky not to get to the group stages so hopefully we can get another chance. We thought we deserved to go through and felt we could have done a lot better than Odense did in the group stages. We want another chance to get back in the group stages." Motherwell manager Stuart McCall has been resting players since the semi-final with both Murphy and Randolph among those to have benefited in recent weeks. The players were given a relaxed introduction to this week with golfing and 10-pin bowling sessions, which saw the players taking on McCall and his backroom staff. Murphy said: "I won the golf, the bowling wasn't so good. I think the staff rigged the bowling, they were definitely cheating. The first game we played, the highest score won, the next game was based on the improvement. The staff team were rubbish in the first game so they improved the most." McCall retorted: "We never cheated but I certainly ended up a few quid better off. It's always the same, you play until the manager wins."
