O'Donnell caps a good week

JIM REYNOLDS

13 Sep 1993

PHIL O'Donnell, Motherwell's 21-year-old midfield player, quietly reflected on what had been an exceptional week for him after the Fir Park side had beaten Hearts 2-0 on Saturday, then stressed that there is better to come from himself and his colleagues.

O'Donnell, one of the hottest properties in Scottish football, won his first full cap last Wednesday when he came on as a substitute against Switzerland at Pittodrie, scored his first goal of the season against Hearts, and saw Motherwell take a clear lead at the top of the premier division.

"It's been a great week for me," said the youngster.

"I loved my first taste of international football and I want a lot more.

It was also a good feeling to get my first goal and I think we answered the critics who talked about bubbles bursting after we lost to St Johnstone.

"We didn't just bounce back against Hearts -- we played some great stuff and made a lot of chances.

In fact, I should have scored another and my aim now must be to improve my scoring record.

I know I don't get the goals I should from the midfield."

That is mature self-criticism indeed from a young man whose game seems to contain everything else, poise, skill, a devastating burst of pace, and ever-growing physical strength.

O'Donnell is also delighted to be again playing alongside Paul Lambert, signed by Motherwell from St Mirren last week.

He said: "I played with Paul at under-21 level and thoroughly enjoyed it.

He's a smashing player and I'm sure he will help us improve once he has settled in."

Lambert, the club's record signing, is just one of several shrewd buys manager Tommy McLean has made on a budget which comes nowhere near that of the bigger clubs.

Miodrag Krivocapic has tightened things up at the back, Rab Shannon is as industrious a player as you could hope to have in your team, and Rob McKinnon, brought from the obscurity of the lower English divisions last season, gets better and better.

With McKinnon playing wide on the left side of the midfield, controlling the area with pace and determination, and Lambert doing likewise on the right, Hearts had a troubled afternoon.

The wide men gave twin strikers Ally Graham and Paul McGrillen all the space they needed.

"We were second best far too often," said Tynecastle manager Sandy Clark.

"The fact that our best players were in defence should tell you something."

Until last April, Motherwell had gone five years and 21 matches without recording a win over Hearts.

Now they have won two in succession and O'Donnell and McGrillen, the men who scored the goals back in April, were again on the mark on Saturday.

McGrillen has had a magnificent start to the season.

He set up the first goal against Hearts with a beautiful turn away from Neil Berry and a delicate little pass into the path of O'Donnell, who stroked the ball inside Henry Smith's right-hand post just after half-time.

Hearts, who probably should have had a penalty in the first half and who also missed a good early chance, were flattened by the attacking play of Motherwell, and with just four minutes left the game was put beyond them.

Berry was short with a pass-back, McKinnon prodded it past Smith, and McGrillen outpaced Alan McLaren to knock in his sixth goal of the season.

Make no mistake about it, this is a good Motherwell side whose players are growing in confidence.

They are producing a brand of football which deserves more than the four-figure crowds they are getting at the moment.

There will be hiccups along the way and manager Tommy McLean knows he's still a bit short of numbers when it comes to strength and depth, but for the moment they are the side I would pay money to watch.

An indication of just how far McLean's men have progressed is that veteran Davie Cooper, upon whom they have relied for so long, made only a fleeting appearance as a substitute.

Taken from the Herald