Kettlewell calls for Motherwell to step up in Miller absence

Stuart Kettlewell has urged his Motherwell team to step up in the absence of "standout" Lennon Miller after accusing players of going through the motions in Thursday's defeat at Hearts.

Midfielder Miller, previously an ever-present this season, is out for up to eight weeks with a hairline fracture in his ankle and his absence was keenly felt in the 1-0 loss at Tynecastle.

Kettlewell's pllans for the likes of Callum Slattery to get much-needed game time following injury were hit on Friday by the postponement of a planned training-ground friendly with Rangers because of the freezing weather.

The Fir Park boss, whose side host Aberdeen on Sunday, said: "What I'm going to be looking for is many people to put their hand up and step forward to be able to start the game.

"Not just to be there, not just to be a part of a group, but to be able to be in a position where you're fresh to play.

"Lennon has been a pillar of our team, he's been a mainstay, he's been a standout for us. I would pitch him in that standout category in the division as a whole.

"There's absolutely no doubt that he's going to be a huge loss for us. But we're going to have to have players that step forward and show that kind of level of responsibility. We're going to have players that come and take part in a game of football.

"For that first half, first 20 minutes (on Thursday), it was completely unacceptable. It didn't get much better in the second half, but it was completely unacceptable from the point of view of how we handle a ball, how we try and pass the ball, how we try and get the ball back, our energy, our intensity.

"You can have your worst day in possession of a football, you can mis-control it, you can misplace passes, but the one thing you have to do is you have to be flat out.

"My demand now goes to the players and everybody here at the football club that we show a reaction on Sunday."