Motherwell enjoy extra special night

ALAN PATTULLO
AT EASTER ROAD

Motherwell 3 Craigan (20), Foran (pen 78), Fitzpatrick (120)
Hearts 2 Burchill (85), Thorarinsson (90)

After extra-time

Referee: D McDonald.
Attendance: 14,069

MOTHERWELL picked the right moment to sweep back into form on a night of cup drama at Easter Road that had seemed set to be appreciated by everyone except Terry Butcher’s side.

They had seen a two goal-lead evaporate in the last 12 minutes of normal time and, with the tie seemingly destined for penalties, Marc Fitzpatrick became the third substitute of the night to score, but the first to be granted the status of match-winner. The Hearts pair of Mark Burchill and Hjalmur Thorarinsson had dragged Hearts back into the game with two late goals but Butcher’s side kept their appointment with destiny with almost the very last kick of the game.

Scott McDonald, impressive all night, set up Fitzpatrick for a goal which secured a first League Cup final appearance for Motherwell in 50 years. It led to a scene that will be etched in the minds of their fans. Butcher joined his players in a bow in front of the away goal, and it was richly deserved.

For Hearts, alas, only heart-ache. Despite Motherwell’s fears that the Tynecastle side were favoured by the playing of this tie in Edinburgh, Easter Road is proving no friend to Hearts of late. In 1999 they were beaten 3-0 here by St Johnstone at the same stage of the same competition. Last night the home of their fierce rivals brought Hearts a perhaps more hurtful defeat. Having done the hard part in saving the tie at the death of the initial 90-minute period they saw it lost again in the final seconds of extra-time, with penalties beginning to loom in the minds of all bar 18-year-old Fitzpatrick, who topped off the drama with his first ever goal.

Hearts head coach John Robertson had been cute enough before the game to label Motherwell as favourites in an age-old psychological ruse that was probably being employed on the occasion these sides met in the League Cup final - 50 years ago. Unfortunately for Robertson it proved a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Motherwell began to justify a tag that had been attached to them in what seemed an act of mischief on the Hearts coach’s part. They had, after all, been required to play Hearts, if not in the Tynecastle side’s own lair, then one not a million miles away from Gorgie. The vastly out-numbered Motherwell fans soon had reason to make themselves heard, however, as they watched their side take an early lead.

The Fir Park side’s threat had already been signalled by the time Stephen Craigan headed in the opener, with McDonald managing to mis-kick when presented with a clear opportunity to score just after the quarter-of-an-hour mark. Kevin McBride’ free-kick had searched out Richie Foran at the far post and his intelligent knock-down should have been swept into the net by McDonald rather than skewed towards the north stand.

The miss did not prove calamitous since with almost their next attack Motherwell claimed the goal that had got away. Steven Hammell’s free-kick from the far side this time found an eager predator in the perhaps unusual shape of centre-half Craigan. His successful effort to steer the ball into the net was hardly hindered by a Hearts defence rooted to the spot. It was Motherwell’s fourth goal against Hearts this season, to no reply.

Hearts had been shaken and, inevitably, it was Paul Hartley who featured most prominently in their attempts to fashion a way back into the tie. First he blasted wildly over after a Dennis Wyness effort had been barged down by a Motherwell defender, and then he was considerably more artful when taking a pass from Wyness in his stride on the far flank. His eventual shot - low and angled - tested Gordon Marshall sufficiently but the ball, when it broke from the keeper’s out-stretched foot, fell into the path of a grateful Hammell, who whipped it away from danger.

The impressive Motherwell defender would prove yet more bothersome for Hearts. His free-kick at the other end brought out a finger-tip save from Craig Gordon, and from the resultant corner McDonald almost added a second. He whipped in a shot on the turn as the ball dropped at his feet but saw it fly just wide of the post. And still Hammell’s work was not done, robbing Hearts of an equaliser on the stroke of half-time when wrapping his foot around a Wyness effort that was inching ever closer to the goal-line.

On the other side of half-time Hearts came equally as close to constructing an equaliser, but Saulios Mikoliunas saw his shot deflected just wide of the post after a dangerous run across the face of the box.

This prompted another half of rousing action, though one characterised by increasing desperation on the part of a Hearts side eager to avoid their first defeat of the year. It seemed destined to be so, though, when another chance to equalise was snatched from them only by the length of Scott Leitch’s toe-nails. The Motherwell skipper could have not got much more to a cross-goal knock-down from Lee Miller but it was enough to take the ball away from Wyness, who was in the act of picking his spot.

A double-substitution on the hour-mark is always the sign of a team with pressing matters to address. And so it was here with Hearts. Burchill and Stephen Simmons replaced Wyness and MacFarlane, but it was Hartley who continued to prove their main danger man and he saw one free-kick effort scrambled past the post by Marshall.

The Motherwell fans thought they could relax and enjoy the final 12 minutes when Jamie McAllister was drawn into a trip on McDonald in the box. Foran’s strike from the penalty spot was both good and true. Burchill, though, gave hope to Hearts with his first goal for the club, slamming home a loose-ball after a Simmons free-kick.

And just when Motherwell believed they had weathered the worst of a frantic Hearts attempt at a comeback, unbearable deflation arrived courtesy of another Tynecastle new boy, Thorarinsson. With the fourth official signalling four minutes of injury time to be played, Hartley stole into the box and admirably kept his head when considering his options. Instead of shooting from a tight angle he deftly cut the ball back for Thorarinsson, who had replaced Joe Hamill in 74 minutes. His neat side-footed finish meant Motherwell, without a League Cup final appearance since 1954, had another 30 minutes in which to re-discover a route to what had seemed was their destiny.

Motherwell: Marshall, Corrigan, Craigan, Partridge, Leitch, Hammell, McBride (Clarkson 75), O’Donnell, Paterson (Fitzpatrick 75), Foran (Paul Quinn 113), S McDonald. Subs not used: Fagan, Corr.

Hearts: Gordon, Neilson, Pressley, Webster, McAllister, Mikoliunas, MacFarlane (Simmons 60), Hartley, Hamill (Thorarinsson 74), Miller, Wyness (Burchill 61). Subs not used: Berra, Moilanen.

Taken from the Scotsman