Motherwell’s Kevin Van Veen hopes to continue causing defences problems

Scunthorpe United v Southend United – Sky Bet League Two – The Sands Venue Stadium
(Image credit: Isaac Parkin)

Motherwell striker Kevin Van Veen hopes to cause cinch Premiership defences problems after “playing around” with the Hibernian’s centre-backs.

Van Veen was one of the major positives in Motherwell’s opening 3-2 defeat at Fir Park, heading home the opener, impressing the home fans with some sublime touches and putting himself about.

“I felt as though I had the Hibs centre-backs in my pocket a bit, just playing around with them,” he said.

“I hope I can do that a lot more, that I can cause defenders a lot more trouble. They don’t really know who I am.

“I was quite happy with the performance but I’d rather have had the win.

“I’m very frustrated that we didn’t take three points. I would have been happy with a win and me not scoring.

“On the other hand it’s good to score and show myself as I did on Sunday, with man of the match and a goal. We’ll take positives because we played some good football and deserved a lot more than zero points out of the game.”

Van Veen has been reunited with former Iron boss Graham Alexander after an injury-hit campaign.

“I’m getting fitter and fitter because last year I missed the whole season really with quite heavy injuries,” the 30-year-old said. “I’ve been training hard pre-season and really enjoying my training here. I can’t wait for the next game and I’ll maybe score more than one goal.

“I’d like to think I’m different to other players, I certainly want to be.

“I don’t want to be the kind of player who just passes it sideways, I want to entertain the fans, get them off their seats from time to time, be creative. I want to be important for my team-mates.

“Hard work comes first and then hopefully my quality shines through and we get three points.”