Liam Kelly 'loves' being held to account by Motherwell fans
Motherwell goalkeeper Liam Kelly "loves" the fact that supporters hold him to account if he does not maintain his high standards.
Kelly has embraced the criticism he received in recent weeks and is encouraged by his response.
The Scotland international came under fire after conceding from a corner in Motherwell's Scottish Cup defeat by Morton last month.
But a 3-1 win at Livingston on Wednesday has put Motherwell three points off the top six in the cinch Premiership ahead of Saturday's trip to face Rangers and Kelly and his team-mates are looking up the way.
When asked about his prospects of making Scotland's Euro 2024 squad, the 28-year-old said: "I think the last few weeks have gone a lot better for me personally - Celtic, Hearts and Livingston the other night, I think it went well.
"I'm aware that having done well here for a long time, when you don't live up to those standards, then you are met by criticism, and I love that about playing for this club.
"They hold you to account, they know what you are capable of and if you drop below those standards they will let you know. That's one of the things that I really enjoy about this club.
"Being captain is the proudest thing in my career, leading this great club on the pitch. It's something I don't ever take for granted, a huge privilege for me. And ultimately I just want to keep trying to do well for the club on the pitch.
"Whatever happens internationally after that, will happen, but I have no control over that. As long as I can keep trying to play well.
"I think I have done all right in the last three weeks, I am fairly honest in the assessment of my own performance and ultimately it's about trying to stick to those standards."
Only three teams have conceded more Premiership goals than Motherwell this season, a statistic in sharp contrast to last term.
The former Rangers, Livingston and QPR player said: "Nobody is more critical of themselves than me so if anyone's got anything negative to say about me, then don't worry, I've beaten you to it.
"In previous years it went really well for me here. Even the back lads, last year outside Celtic and Rangers we conceded the least goals in the league.
"We have high standards for ourselves, so we expect better when we are not performing well.
"Honestly, I love it, when you are not playing well I don't want people to pretend you are doing all right. What's the point in that? They are just lying to you.
"So if you are not playing well the criticism comes with it. Enjoy it, embrace it, understand you need to get better.
"That's what we are trying to do. We are not making mistakes here thinking 'we did all right there, that's fine, hopefully nobody saw it'. We own the mistakes that we make.
"We are not perfect, we are not Real Madrid. We will try our very best to get better, we are an honest group of lads.
"And as much as we make mistakes, we put our hand up and try to rectify it and go again.
"And come this Saturday, we will be there trying our best and be willing to make a mistake, put ourselves in the position to be brave and take part in the game. If mistakes happen, they happen, but we'll not be hiding, that's for sure."
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