After this four goal bonanza, Les Hutchison was probably kicking back in his Barbados bolt hole thinking he should’ve flogged Motherwell for a fiver.
The former owner of the Fir Park club helped usher in a fresh era of fan stewardship by concluding a takeover agreement with the Well Society for the princely sum of £1 prior to yesterday’s encounter with Ross County.
A bright new dawn? Well, on a dour day in Lanarkshire the signs were certainly encouraging. Following Wednesday’s woeful reversal to Inverness Caley Thistle, there wouldn’t be another highland fling for a side from the other end of the Kessock Bridge as Motherwell put Ross County to the sword with a commanding, robust and ruthless display.
“This was so far away from the second half in midweek,” said Mark McGhee, the Motherwell manager, as he reflected on that 3-0 defeat. “I sensed on Friday in training there was an appetite and a desire to get back. It was as good as we have played all season. We have proved we can bounce back and that speaks volumes about our character.”
County had started with sprightly intentions but it was Motherwell who earned a morale-boosting early lead with their first real foray forward. Chris Cadden made a telling thrust down the right had side but his charge was illegally halted by Kenny van der Weg’s challenge. From the resulting free kick, Lionel Ainsworth picked out the lurking Scott McDonald in space and his close range header was of the routine variety.
That concession certainly halted County’s growing momentum while the hitherto lack-lustre hosts were given an injection of timely vigour. Having established a sturdy foothold in proceedings, Motherwell set about building on that advantage. The pace and directness of Cadden on the right was a useful weapon in the armoury and another of his powerful surges almost brought further rewards on 20 minutes. His cross eventually dropped to McDonald but he was left holding his head in his hands as he screwed a good opportunity wide of the post.
Motherwell were certainly in charge now. The under-the-cosh Highlanders, meanwhile, had about as much forward propulsion as a bus stuck in those pesky M74 roadworks. A second goal duly arrived on the half hour. Moult teased and tormented out on the left and having worked his way to the byline, his cut back was dunted into the net by the hapless van der Weg.
It was all one way traffic and apart from a minor County flurry as half-time loomed – Ben Heneghan hurled his body on the line to block Michael Gardyne’s thumping clatter - Motherwell were as comfortable as a pair of baffies that had been warmed at the wood burning stove.
It got even more assuring just after the break as the home side added to their tally. Tait was allowed to stride with considerable purpose into the box and he unleashed a searing strike which zipped past Scott Fox at the near post.
The visitors were in tatters as Motherwell bounded forward at will. When it arrived on 62 minutes, the fourth goal was delightfully conceived. The bustling McDonald made menacing advances into County territory and held the ball up before laying it off into the stride of the on-rushing Ainsworth. An acceleration of his blinding pace took him beyond the last line of defence and he neatly rounded Fox before walking the ball into the net.
It was a cracking goal from Ainsworth. County’s consolation wasn’t bad either, mind you. Marcus Fraser pulled a cross back to the edge of the box and Alex Schalk battered a fine first time strike low into the net. It’s now nine games without a win for Jim McIntyre’s team, though, and they have now slithered down to second bottom.
“Their first goal is as basic as man-to-man marking, we don’t do our job and that gave them a spring in the step,” conceded the Ross County manager. “That put the doubt in our minds which happens when you are a team who have not had a victory for a while. We need to get back to basics and stop making these errors that are hurting the confidence levels.”
Scorers
Motherwell: McDonald 8, Van der Weg og 32, Tait 51, Ainsworth 62
Ross County: Schalk 78
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here