Hearts 1 - 2 Motherwell

There have been some fanciful names bandied about in connection with the vacant Scotland manager's job since Alex McLeish tendered his resignation 13 days ago.

Callers to one football phone-in on Saturday night continued the theme with a stream of improbable suggestions, ranging from John Hughes to Chick Young. Yes, that Chick Young.

One man, however, barely received a passing mention, although that probably said more about those being granted air-time than his merits as a football manager.
advertisement

Mark McGhee has emerged as the thinking man's choice to succeed McLeish in recent days and his candidature was given further credibility following this win - his side's sixth away from Fir Park this season - which took Motherwell to third in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League table, four points behind leaders Celtic.

No-one is seriously suggesting McGhee will be considered for the job, but his credentials are at least the equal of his peers and, in some cases, far superior.

Cerebral, witty and shrewd, the 50-year-old demonstrated on Saturday that he can also cite motivation on his tick sheet with a frank half-time chat which helped turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory.

"Hearts' movement was good, their passing was good and I felt that intimidated our lot," said the Motherwell manager. "They looked as if they thought they weren't as good as Hearts and that disappointed me. At half-time, I had to tell them that, and we got a great response in the second half."

The great incongruity of that opening period was that Hearts made their now customary personnel changes - including a debut for Eduard Kurskis in goal - while the visitors remained the same from the previous weekend's win over Gretna.

The alterations bore the hallmarks of a Vladimir Romanov production but, inexplicably, they worked as Hearts stifled their opponents, who seemed strangely subdued given their lofty league position.

Few exemplified Motherwell's first-half inferiority complex more than Ross McCormack, who, despite celebrating a young player of the month award just 24 hours earlier, struggled to impose himself.

Hearts might have been two ahead at the break but had to settle for Andrew Driver's angled finish from Andrius Velicka's cross in the 12th minute. The latter could, and perhaps should, have had the other, but he lost out in a race for the ball with Graeme Smith, the Motherwell goalkeeper.

One McGhee pep talk later, not to mention an unfathomable capitulation by Hearts, and it was Motherwell in the ascendency. McCormack, compared somewhat mischievously by his manager to Kaka, the AC Milan midfielder and Ballon D'Or winner, in the build-up to Saturday's game, suddenly started to believe the hype.

He kick-started the revival by galloping down the left in the 53rd minute to win a corner, which he took quickly. The ball subsequently arrived at the head of Chris Porter - via Stephen Hughes, a defender's head and David Clarkson - and Motherwell were level.

Fourteen minutes later the visitors were in front when Steven McGarry's cross was prodded goalwards by McCormack and Marius Zaliukas, the Hearts defender, helped the ball over the line.

Hearts almost equalised seconds later, but Eggert Jonsson's 25-yard shot struck the crossbar, while Audrius Ksanvicius had a shout for a penalty turned down by Craig Thomson, the referee.

Those efforts aside, Hearts never convinced in the second period and looked so disjointed it was hard to believe the same team had taken the field for the resumption.

Jose Goncalves, the Hearts defender, hinted at why that might have been the case.

"It's not my position to say who plays or not, but when you play with the same players, automatically you get confident in what they are going to do," he said. "Most successful teams play with the same team every week."

Motherwell, in contrast, have used - more or less - the same 14 players since the start of the season and Hughes was quick to note the importance of the role McGhee has played in their march up the table.

"He's done a fantastic job here, he's got a lot of experience and we're just hoping that someone else comes in for Scotland and he stays with us. We've done remarkably well so far and a lot of that is down to the gaffer."

The SFA might do well to take note.

Taken from the Herald