Motherwell -V- Inverness CT

[Yngwie]

On the penalty retake, one of the match reports says "Tansey displayed intestinal fortitude to accept the responsibility a second time".  Would he even have had a choice?  I always assumed that the original taker had to do the retake as well, but perhaps not.

[+bughtmaster]

I think that's a result that can give us a great deal of optimism considering the number of injuries. Hopefully with the international break coming we'll get players back, and we can really push on with more creative players like Doran and Roberts to help support Storey, not to mention the boost it will give the rest of the squad. 

 

 

Now that Vigurs has the bit between his teeth he could also become a front runner....roll on an injury free ICT with a signed up John Hughes too.

[RiG]

Great win for us yesterday especially given the number of players out. We're missing close to a full team right now through injuries and suspension and given our recent record against Well I don't think many of us were going in to the game with much confidence.

 

Whilst we went in two up at the break I thought Motherwell were the better team in the first half although we did defend pretty well to keep them out. A lot of their chances were coming from the wide areas and they sent in a number of good crosses but fortunately Fon Williams was able to deal with the few headers and shots that came his way pretty easily. Whilst we may have been on the back foot for a fair bit of the first half I didn't feel like Well really had that cutting edge to get themselves back into the game and they passed up a number of decent half chances.

 

The penalty award will cause a lot of debate. From the Motherwell TV highlights I think it looks like a harsh award. I think it is McMannus who is judged to have handled it and whilst the ball does hit his arm I don't think he deliberately meant to handle the ball. His hand / arm may not have been in the most natural place but I can't say that he meant to deliberately block any attempt on goal. The retake however was spot on. The laws of the game are clear that if players from both teams encroach and the outcome of the penalty kick is no goal then it is retaken. 

 

Second goal was very lucky as well. Complete Rick O'Shea (as Storey himself said on Twitter) off a Well defender beyond Ripley who was totally wrong footed. Before half time we lost Christie to an injury. No word yet what the damage was but he seemed to land awkwardly and jar his knee or twist something. There was no contact from any Well player. Hopefully it's not too bad and the international break gives him some time to recover in time for Partick.

 

I thought we started the second half quite well but then quickly sat back to defend our lead. Well again seemed to focus most of their attacks down the flanks and claimed for a penalty when a cross came into the box and one of Devine or Meekings looked like they were pulling at the Motherwell player who went over. Hard to see if it was a good shout or not but certainly the home fans felt pretty aggrieved. Polworth, who had a superb game for us, passed up a good chance to score. Similar to the chance the other week against Dundee he found himself with time and space at the edge of the box but sent his effort well over via a deflection.

 

From the corner however we grabbed our third goal. Our set pieces aren't normally up to much and we typically loft a ball into the six yard area for a defender to try and get a header in but this time, with the normal targets occupying the Well players heading towards the near post Tansey picks out Vigurs all alone at the edge of the box and he rifles a first time effort into the goal.

 

 

Outrageous effort and one that surely has to be down as a Puskas 2016 contender...

 

Motherwell got a goal back when Tremarco just missed blocking a pass to Ainsworth and he cut inside, floated a ball across goal which Fon Williams missed and Moult was at the back post to tuck the ball into the net.

 

McManus was boxed for a pretty reckless lunge on Polworth who was sold short on a pass from Lopez. I thought he was pretty lucky to stay on the pitch to be honest. Looked like a pretty bad tackle at the time and I was surprised when he was only yellow carded. Storey went off injured and seemed to be holding his hamstring when he departed. Like Christie hopefully it's nothing too serious and the break will give him a chance to rest and be back for Partick.

 

The best chance of the remainder of the game for Well fell to Fletcher who seemed to slip as he got his shot away. Anything else we dealt with pretty easily and we saw the game out quite comfortably. 

 

The drama wasn't over though as McManus received a second yellow card for a tussle with Lopez. I didn't see much wrong with it to be honest (and the Well highlights don't make it any clearer) but I guess he was judged to have elbowed Lopez which, given the player involved, I'm taking with a pinch of salt as Lopez has a habit of going doing far too easily. If he was judged to have elbowed Lopez I thought it would have been a straight red card rather than a second yellow. Who knows. At the end of the game some of the well fans in the disabled supporters section who would have had a good view if the McManus / Lopez incident started challenging Lopez to a fight

 

Not many away games are going to top that one for ICT fans this season. Bit of confidence for us now ahead of Partick in a couple of weeks time.

Edited November 8, 2015 by RiG

[bdu98196]

Good 3 points taken from a difficult place to go and a team with a new manager. Leaves us now just on ther verge of top 6 and 1 behind our high flying neighbours that seem to be getting plenty media credit. All this still with an understrength team, so the signs are good. Hopefully the break will allow for some players to recover if not the next few matches could be a backs to the wall struggle.

[The Mantis]

On the penalty retake, one of the match reports says "Tansey displayed intestinal fortitude to accept the responsibility a second time".  Would he even have had a choice?  I always assumed that the original taker had to do the retake as well, but perhaps not.

If he'd listened to me he'd have put it to Ripley's left the first time and saved all the booing :lol:

[The Mantis]

Good 3 points taken from a difficult place to go and a team with a new manager. Leaves us now just on ther verge of top 6 and 1 behind our high flying neighbours that seem to be getting plenty media credit. All this still with an understrength team, so the signs are good. Hopefully the break will allow for some players to recover if not the next few matches could be a backs to the wall struggle.

Despite it being an awful season injury-wise, if we'd managed to find another goal against a pretty poor Dundee side last week we'd be lying 5th with Uncle Roy's plaything in their rightful place below us

[+HawkeyeTheGnu]

Good 3 points taken from a difficult place to go and a team with a new manager. Leaves us now just on ther verge of top 6 and 1 behind our high flying neighbours that seem to be getting plenty media credit. All this still with an understrength team, so the signs are good. Hopefully the break will allow for some players to recover if not the next few matches could be a backs to the wall struggle.

Despite it being an awful season injury-wise, if we'd managed to find another goal against a pretty poor Dundee side last week we'd be lying 5th with Uncle Roy's plaything in their rightful place below us

if you consider the late goals we conceded against Dundee and St Johnstone (twice) as well as last weeks draw against Dundee, we could be 7 points better off and just behind Aberdeen. Shows what a tight league it is this season. No reason we can't get back into the top six, but a couple of bad results could see us plummet. 

[The Mantis]

Have we ever got beat by Well when we have been in the South Stand ?

Yep. I remember a Sunday afternoon game early in 2012-13 season, where we got absolutely turned over, 4-1 I think. Seem to remember that TSNY was absolutely seething at Owain Tudur Jones for some reason - did he possibly get sent off?  

 

ETA: Just checked the match report. No, OTJ didn't get sent off, but he was replaced by Gavin Morrison after about an hour, so presumably he wasn't having much of a game. Or maybe Butcher got sick of TSNY shouting at him... 

I was reminding Johndo yesterday that he was actually sitting next to me that day......

thoughts of that grubbing were filling my mind yesterday as I parked up in Motherwell in the pishing rain. Also the goal that Raven flogged just as we were wondering whether we'd signed a dud, and just before TB realised that Josh would be better as a CB than a RB......

But most of the damage that day was done by John Sutton, and in the absence of Sutton, Motherwell's endless punts into the box were comfortably mopped up by Devine and Meekings. I actually thought it was a solid defensive display and other than the high balls, Motherwell were reduced to shots from 25 yards. The extended highlights show that williams didn't have a save to make.

i also thought that Ainsworth might run Tremarco ragged but he only got to run at him once in the first half, and he sold himself for their goal, but apart from that he had a decent game.

When we got possession and passed it we had Motherwell rattled but we created very little with it.

To me, when I've seen them play together, Lopez actually looks like a player who can anticipate Ryan Christie's thoughts but unfortunately he's as slow as a week in Dingwall.

 

[tm4tj]

Johndo's match report now published

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Who the feck is that Mantis dude ? 

[The Mantis]

Who the feck is that Mantis dude ? 

they say your memory is the second thing to go.

the first is......... I've forgotten.

[RiG]

Are ICT not doing highlights of this game? Nothing has appeared on the YouTube channel.