PETER Hartley has battled the beast. Now he plans to tame the buffalo. The last time Motherwell’s combative central defender visited one of the grand stages of the British game came at Wembley in last May’s League Two play-off final, when he faced the unenviable task of shackling the hulking 17-stone presence that is Adebayo Akinfenwa, the publicity-shy striker, now of Wycombe Wanderers, who is quite possibly the largest professional footballer in the history of the sport.

So let’s just say that media morsels such as Alfredo Morelos’ recent insistence that he loves the rougher edges of the Scottish game are meat and drink to the English defender. Indeed, if Rangers’ free-scoring striker wants a physical challenge at Hampden Park on Sunday, then the Motherwell central defender has just volunteered to be the man to give it to him. The brawny English defender’s anticipation of the occasion falls only just short of what, under playground rules, people used to call a ‘square go’. “If that’s one of his strengths, then we’ll see what happens,” said Hartley. “I don’t mind a physical fight. If he wants one after the match as well, then I won’t be going anywhere.”

It is perhaps worth pointing out here and now that Hartley’s showdown with Akinfenwa came to a rather beastly end. The giant striker, then of AFC Wimbledon, scored the last-minute penalty which ended Plymouth Argyle’s hopes of a League Two Play-off final win. All that was bad enough were it not for the fact that Hartley was actually off the field then, having been stretchered off and requiring treatment after Akinfenwa landing on top of him left him severely winded.

“I played at Wembley a couple of years ago for Plymouth,” Hartley said. “We got beaten 2-0 on the day and in fairness to Wimbledon, they really did a job on us. We had a lot of the ball, but I don’t think we managed a shot on target. Akinfenwa played for Wimbledon that day. He is twice as wide as me – an absolute tank.

“He scored for them, but I was off the pitch at the time getting treatment because he landed right on top of me,” Hartley added. “I had to be stretchered off because I honestly thought I had broken my ribs. He’s about 20 stone and he came down right on top of me, and with the way he landed on me, my back just totally went into spasms. It wasn’t pleasant, that’s for sure. But it would mean the world to me if I could reach another final. I’m 29 now, so I’m at the stage of my career where I really want to experience these big occasions. This is different to the Play-off Final. It would be the biggest game of my career.”

If there was one moment which summed up this earthy Lanarkshire encounter it came in the lead-up to Hartley’s third goal of the season, the strike which took Motherwell just a point behind Rangers in fourth in the Ladbrokes Premiership table. While the ball sat motionless and untouched on the playing surface, Greg Docherty, Allan Campbell, Dougie Imrie and Chris Cadden all engaged themselves in a wrestling match trying to get near it. Referee Craig Thomson simply gestured to all and sundry to play on.

“It was like playing back in League Two again – a lot of headers, clearances, physical battles and the pitch wasn’t the greatest,” said Hartley, unwittingly insulting the Scottish top flight. ”But we dealt with all of that really well and even when we were 1-0 down, I still didn’t think we were going to lose the game. That physical style suits all three of us – myself, Cedric [Kipre] and Dunney.[Charles Dunne]. If teams want to try and do what we do, we know we are going to be better than them.”

Hamilton’s fifth successive defeat was a bitter pill to swallow, not least because Martin Canning has an injury list as long as your arm and the front office has a £750,000 hole in their accounts to fill after being victims of an elaborate internet fraud.

But Motherwell cared little about that. The feelgood factor at the club is unmistakeable, not least because of the queues of supporters snaking around the block for BetFred Cup semi-final tickets. Having gone one down to an early Giannis Skondras volley, the Greek full back unwittingly teed up Andrew Rose for the equaliser before Hartley’s close range finish from a Cadden free-kick.

“We saw the fans queuing up at the stadium to buy tickets for the semi-final, but knew we still had a huge game against our rivals to take care of first,” said Hartley, who was down south for his son Emerson’s christening yesterday. ‘When you see the fans queuing up like that, it hits home about how much this game means because semi-finals don’t come around every season. We certainly won’t be going to Hampden to make up the numbers. Without a doubt, we fancy our chances.”