It was a case of daylight robbery at Fir Park this afternoon as Motherwell contrived to lose yet again, our sixth defeat in SPL matches so far this season, despite dominating for much of the game. It was night and day compared to the debacle against Inverness last week, but once again our inability to put the ball in the net cost us dearly.

Not surprisingly, MM rang the changes with Graeme Smith, Kevin McBride and Calum Elliot dropping out in favour of Colin Meldrum, Brian McLean and Marc Fitzpatrick. There was also a change in formation, with Malpas opting for an unusual 5-3-2 lineup which featured McLean, Craigan and Reynolds in central defence.

Motherwell lost McLean to injury after just 5 mins, with Jim Paterson moving even further out of position than usual when he replaced him at centre half. It was clear from the opening stages that the players were up for the game, with the Hearts players not being allowed any time on the ball whatsoever. Any attacking in the first half was done by Motherwell, with McDonald (twice) and Foran (playing as a striker for once) both going close. It was in first half injury time when Foran missed our best opportunity of the match, shooting wide when he was clean through on goal.

There was little change to the pattern of play in the second half, with Motherwell continuing to have the upper hand. In fact, it was probably our determination to get forward in numbers which caught us out when Hearts broke upfield in 69 mins to score what proved to be the winning goal. Fitzpatrick (I think) lost possession from a Motherwell corner to leave McCann and Mole with a two-on-one, and it was Mole who finished the move off by rounding Meldrum and firing low into the net. However, unlike lat week, the heads didn't go down and we kept battling away, only for Hearts goalkeeper Craig Gordon to deny us with two fantastic saves late on. Firstly he stood up to a close range Lasley shot, then in the dying minutes he somehow got a hand to a goalbound Paterson header to ensure the visitors left Fir Park with an undeserved three points.

There is no doubt that the better team lost today. Hearts were rarely seen as an attacking force all afternoon, in fact I can't remember Meldrum having a save to make. I guess that when you're down at the bottom of the league the breaks just don't go for you, but if we can maintain this level of performance and our strikers can get their shooting boots on, we'll start to pick up points sooner rather than later.

Team (5-3-2): Meldrum, Quinn, McLean (McGarry 6), Craigan, Reynolds, Paterson, Kerr, Lasley, Fitzpatrick (McCormack 87), Foran, McDonald.

Subs not used: Smith, McBride, Fagan, Robert Donnelly, Connolly.

Booked: Lasley, Foran.

Attendance: 5,931.

Speaking after the game, Maurice Malpas revealed that Brian McLean has picked up yet another serious injury:
"It looks as though we could have another long-term injury with Brian. He has done his medial ligament in his knee, possibly the lot. It will be another few days before we can determine that and it's another defender we have injured.

"If anybody thinks we didn't deserve something today they were at a different game to me. We had most of the chances but never scored and Craig Gordon had a couple of good saves. It's a result business and they score their goal and go away with the points. We just have to go and concentrate on the next game. If anyone has been saying we're a team in crisis hopefully that will put an end to that. The saddest thing for me is producing a performance like that having played so badly last week.

"The team that has beaten us have not been better than us football wise, they just took their chance. We've not been destroyed by any team and we'll just keep plodding away."

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