Matchday Thread: Motherwell -v- I.c.t.

[WYNESS101]

Was the asst commentator craigan???

[kiltarlity]

If we lose both our last games and Midden win one of their two. Then it could be down to goal difference betwen us and midden. I think?

The maths is so confusing....

[rinomac]

from what i can figure a point on sat will see both us and killie safe.

only if falkirk beat saint mirren

[Yngwie]

Just so long as we don't go into the last game needing something against Falkirk, pleeeease.

I hate the idea of their fans invading our pitch at the end and spreading their swine flu.

[WYNESS101]

Heard somewhere the day that someone in inverness has swine flu. :angry:

True....

[Johnboy]

I just wish Butcher and Esson could patch up their differences.

Fraser might not have been to blame for either goal, but I'd still be happier with Esson between the sticks for these remaining vital games.

[caleyrule]

I just wish Butcher and Esson could patch up their differences.

Fraser might not have been to blame for either goal, but I'd still be happier with Esson between the sticks for these remaining vital games.

From what i hear the relationship between Esson and Butcher is beyond repair and it looks probable he wont play for ICT again

[Kylef]

how can you guarantee that? ive not heard a thing about terry and esson properly falling out? id even put it down to fraser outclassing esson in training...who would you then pick?

anyway, just back from the game. what a game at was. went there expecting a usual motherwell/ICT game, where motherwell hump us, but after 5 mins i thought we could get a point here. we were great, really attacking!! then it went motherwells way for a bit.

then they scored which was well against the run of play! really annoyed the **** out of me.

then we went all out again and morais scored!

for imrie then to score was unreal! love the wee man, and he so deserves it! especially lionels cross - take note, two players that have their own threads on here getting stick like nothing else, then partner up to score a cracking goal!

i had my heart set on winning then, but i knew we wouldnt with just 1 goal lead - low and behold, the flukey b*(stards score!

still though, can take great confidence in that performance! please though chaps, win on saturday and dont make us have to go through a last-game-must-win!!!

[Yngwie]

Sounds like a good performance and a good result (against a team that had beaten us 6 times in a row I think) but somehow we end up closer to relagation. :angry:

[alimci]

We were pretty ghastly at times, passing was everywhere, but we still deserved to win. The curse of John Sutton strikes again.

Great support. Usual bizarre stewarding, they let us stand until we scored the first goal, then wanted us to sit down. One said as I passed on the way out "Enjoy life in the first division". Almost feel like making a complaint about that.

Cr*p Falkirk result though. :024:

[alternative maryhill]

Bit of a frustrating night. I can't help feeling it's two points thrown away even though I would have taken a point before the game.

The first half was very similar to Sunday's game: we stared brightly then seemed to lose our way a bit in midfield after the first 15-20 minutes. Some of the passing was really awful from the central midfielders, and although I don't really want to single him out, Lionel looked like a rabbit in headlights on a few occasions and had a few heartstoppingly bad sclaffs at balls coming into him. The Motherwell opener was a header at the left hand post, but I didn't pick up who (if anyone) was at fault among our defenders. I remember our equaliser clearly though - Imrie hit the bye-line, put it past the left back and cut it back for Morais to finish coolly. A lovely move, and it was great to see Imrie find the confidence to do that - I was worried that he was just going to fade out of the game like he did on Saturday, and instead he went on to have one of his best matches for a while.

Second half was vastly improved - Butcher clearly had a word at half time and I felt we dominated throughout the half. Brian Kerr in particular worked his @rse off, and Morais and Imrie look like they could be the most effective forward line we have had in a long time. We fully deserved to go ahead and the second Motherwell goal was well against the run of play. One thing I don't understand is why Butcher chose to put Barrowman on when Morais came off - if he was intent on trying to defend the lead, why not put on an attacker with real pace (i.e. Odihambo) as a counterattacking outlet? We lost our lead within minutes of Barrowman coming on (not his fault, obviously) and suddenly found ourselves without a cutting edge up front when we most needed one. Still, though, while we're not the most attractive footballing side, we don't look like a team destined to go down either.

There was a pretty respectable support for us considering it is a Wednesday night, and plenty of vocal support an encouragement. The Motherwell support was woeful though - less than 3,000 in the crowd altogether, which I suspect may be the lowest SPL attendance of the season?

[WYNESS101]

Attd: 2,818 :024:

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Bit of a frustrating night. I can't help feeling it's two points thrown away even though I would have taken a point before the game.

The first half was very similar to Sunday's game: we stared brightly then seemed to lose our way a bit in midfield after the first 15-20 minutes. Some of the passing was really awful from the central midfielders, and although I don't really want to single him out, Lionel looked like a rabbit in headlights on a few occasions and had a few heartstoppingly bad sclaffs at balls coming into him. The Motherwell opener was a header at the left hand post, but I didn't pick up who (if anyone) was at fault among our defenders. I remember our equaliser clearly though - Imrie hit the bye-line, put it past the left back and cut it back for Morais to finish coolly. A lovely move, and it was great to see Imrie find the confidence to do that - I was worried that he was just going to fade out of the game like he did on Saturday, and instead he went on to have one of his best matches for a while.

Second half was vastly improved - Butcher clearly had a word at half time and I felt we dominated throughout the half. Brian Kerr in particular worked his @rse off, and Morais and Imrie look like they could be the most effective forward line we have had in a long time. We fully deserved to go ahead and the second Motherwell goal was well against the run of play. One thing I don't understand is why Butcher chose to put Barrowman on when Morais came off - if he was intent on trying to defend the lead, why not put on an attacker with real pace (i.e. Odihambo) as a counterattacking outlet? We lost our lead within minutes of Barrowman coming on (not his fault, obviously) and suddenly found ourselves without a cutting edge up front when we most needed one. Still, though, while we're not the most attractive footballing side, we don't look like a team destined to go down either.

There was a pretty respectable support for us considering it is a Wednesday night, and plenty of vocal support an encouragement. The Motherwell support was woeful though - less than 3,000 in the crowd altogether, which I suspect may be the lowest SPL attendance of the season?

It is worrying that we are losing goals from dead ball situations. I thought they dominated us for a good 20 minutes in the first half and then we scored - we dominated the second but we dropped deeper after we scored and we were looking to hit on the break - and I too was surprised that Eric didnt replace Morais. The Fraser sclaff and the ridiculous free kick decision in injury time is not to be recommended.

But it is still in our hands - and we havent been beaten in the split - and it is Bairns v Midden next as well.

[alimci]

We lost our lead within minutes of Barrowman coming on (not his fault, obviously)

Although when Barrowman comes on it's like playing with 10 men.

[tokelyisvictorious]

good point, all we need is one more and we are safe :021: :016:

[The Mantis]

Imrie actually nutmegged him (Hammell?) didn't he?

Shame we couldn't pull it off as it would have meant we were safe. Still squeaky bum time. It's still looking like a massive game v Falkirk on the 23rd if you ask me. I hope it can get settled this weekend, don't know if we can all stand another week of this :021: :016: :crazy03:

What was Granty's booking all about then?

[The Mantis]

good point, all we need is one more and we are safe :021: :016:

I wish that was true.........

[tokelyisvictorious]

assuming st mirren continue their run of form and lose to falkirk, then if we get one more point then we are safe.

although if st mirren win then it all goes down to the last game, which we would probably struggle in. :021: :crazy03: :019: :016:

[rinomac]

But the Midden have only won once since the start of the new year, and they looked awful when we played them. Let's hope our lads can get it sorted out this weekend as I don't think I can go to the Falkirk game if we have to win

[Fanoffooty]

St Mirren have'nt had a win at their new Stadium yet ,

we've gained maximum points v Killie so far

No reason why we shouldnt continue the trend

3 POINTS ON SATURDAY , SORTED !

[Harry Chibber]

I sincerely hope we don't live to regret that equaliser and it was such a sloppy goal to concede!!

We looked shakey for the majority of the first half. I don't think the pitch helped but our midfielders looked as though they needed re-introduced to each other, Black & Kerr struggled to win any first or second ball and I don't think either of them completed a 10 yrd pass. McBain was very poor last night, his passing was attrocious (not helped by the pitch), he left Zadi exposed on a few occasions and his attempts to take on their right back were laughable. Everytime we broke from defence the move would come to a hault as soon as the ball came to our left side, which is a shame because I think McBain has been terrific since he's been back in the squad. We were playing direct long balls from the back and McLean was winning everything in the air against Foran (sign of things to come), Motherwell won a corner and floated it to the front post where McLean lost his marker (Rossco I think) and headed into the top corner...... as simple as you like. If it was Rossco again then that's 2 corners in 2 games we've conceded and he's been marking the player who scored, although I think you'd find it hard to blame him for the Hamilton goal because he was fouled but worrying statistics when he is likely to be marking the man-mountain Kevin Kyle in our next game. The one thing you can say about Butcher is he has installed some fight in the players and with Imrie, Foran & Morais in the team we look dangerous up top... Imrie got the ball left his man for dead (meg??) and cut back perfectly for Morais to fill the onion bag... great move and great goal.

Second half we had the bit between our teeth and Kerr looked like a different player, getting stuck in whenever possible and giving the Motherwell midfield no time on the ball. Imrie always looked like a menace, Foran was working his erse off and the pace of Morais caused their defence a lot of bother. Zadi decided it was time for a wander down the left wing and put in a terrific cross which was missed by everyone in the box apart from Imrie who was standing completely unmarked... instead of taking a touch and slotting it in the net he sissor-kicked it into the top corner, superb finish!! 10 minutes left to guarentee safety and then Motherwell brought on Sutton and we took off arguably one of our best players to replace him with Barrowman and instead of looking like we were going to get a 3rd goal we ended up conceding, as alternative maryhill said it's hard to blame Barrowman for a goal he had no involvement in but we suddenly looked toothless upfront which let the Motherwell team drift further into our half. Their goal was avoidable... the ball from the right wing should have been stopped by Zadi, we had 2 oppertunities to clear the ball in the box until Sutton made a smart finish in the top corner... gutting

after their goal the ref made a catologue of ridiculous decisions, obviously trying to avoid booking any Motherwell player...

Zadi.... where to start? The guy doesn't know his erse from his elbow when defending, his heading is horrific for a 6ft+ player and I've not seen many professional footballers with worse positional sense, his decision making is shocking and for such a big guy he is a pu55y but at the end of the day he has created our second goal. I wouldn't take the risk but Terry obviously likes a gamble

[alimci]

What was Granty's booking all about then?

I was waiting for someone to explain that well. And how the two minutes of added time became one free kick.

[MissICT]

Good game I thought.

Good to see Imrie scoring again.

anyone know when the highlights are on?

[Kingsmills]

How frustrating was that ? 11 minutes from league safety and now right back in the mix.

[rinomac]

Typical of us though - we don't exactly do things the easy way. Like the First Division title: we decided to give Clyde an 8 point head start before we eventually got there.