Bob McHugh joined Motherwell at an early age progressing through the club’s youth system. At the tender age of 16 years, 10 months and 6 days old, he was handed his first team debut against Hibernian on the final game of the 2007/08 season when he came on as a substitute in a 2-0 win at Easter Road.
It would take the young forward a number of seasons to start featuring on a more regular basis but in all honesty he would struggle to nail down a regular starting berth during his time at Fir Park. While he would play under four managers, Mark McGhee, Jim Gannon, Stuart McCall and Ian Baraclough (he would never be selected be the latter), McHugh would only start 14 games for the club making a whopping 77 appearances from the bench. Despite the hefty amount of times Bob came on as a sub, he is still bettered in this department by winger Johnny Gahagan who had made well over a century appearances as a sub.
As the club tried to aid his development, he had a loan cancelled with Partick Thistle before he featured for the side as he was unfortunate to suffer a broken wrist but he would later be farmed out to Queen of the South and Airdrieonians.
McHugh scored his first Motherwell goal in a European tie against Albanian side Flamurtari who were crushed 8-1. Domestically, only a matter of months later Bob notched his first goal against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in a League Cup tie.
Despite being on the fringes of the first team for many years, it would be fair to say he lacked the goal demand required for the top level in Scotland as he would only produce 8 goals in 91 appearances.
Bob did however produce a few memorable moments as he scored a number of late goals which sealed memorable victories over Aberdeen and Hibernian. The game at Easter Road is perhaps worthy of mention as the Steelmen were 2-0 down and fought back to secure the victory with McHugh hitting home in the 88th minute.
Having fallen out of favour he departed North Lanarkshire at the end of the 2014/15 season when his contract expired, Bob would join Championship outfit Falkirk. While representing the Bairns he was unfortunate to miss out on promotion to the Scottish Premiership, he scored a last minute winner against Hibernian which set up a Play Off Final tie against Kilmarnock but the side lost 4-1 over two legs. The following season it was more heartbreak as Dundee United scored with minutes remaining to deny them another crack at the Playoff Final.
Later in his career he would serve Greenock Morton, Queen’s Park and East Kilbride.
McHugh represented Scotland at both U17 and U19 level.
|
Name:
|
Robert McHugh |
|
Height:
|
5’10” |
|
Weight:
|
11st 9lbs |
|
Date of Birth:
|
16th July 1991 |
|
Place of Birth:
|
Glasgow |
|
Position:
|
Forward |
|
Nationality:
|
Scottish |
Football Career:
| Motherwell | 2007 | 2015 |
| Queen of the South (Loan) | 2014 | |
| Airdrieonians (Loan) | 2015 | |
| Falkirk | 2015 | 2017 |
| Greenock Morton | 2017 | 2020 |
| Queen’s Park | 2020 | 2022 |
| East Kilbride | 2022 | – |
Well Career:
| Apps | Goals | |
|
League:
|
9 (61) | 5 |
|
Scottish Cup:
|
2 (3) | 0 |
|
League Cup:
|
3 (4) | 2 |
|
Other:
|
0 (9) | 1 |
|
Total:
|
14 (77) | 8 |