Motherwell 1 Hearts 0

From GARETH LAW at Fir Park

Published: 08 Aug 2011

VLADIMIR ROMANOV saw a side outside the Old Firm become No1 yesterday.

The Jambos owner wasn't at Fir Park.

But you can bet he'll have been watching somewhere as Jamie Murphy's strike sent Motherwell top of the SPL.

It was a further sign of just how well Stuart McCall has got his men playing.

But what Romanov tuned into couldn't have been any further from the feelgood factor he'd witnessed for himself at Tynecastle on Thursday night.

Hardly a thing went wrong for Paulo Sergio in his 4-1 dugout debut demolition of Paksi which set up next week's glamour clash with Spurs.

But yesterday the Portuguese boss got a taste of exactly the task he faces if he's to get close to Romanov's demands of being crowned league champs. With the rain dripping down his neck the man who went to the same Lisbon management school as Jose Mourinho will look back at this display and know it wasn't such a Special One.

Both keepers kept the score in check in the first half before Ian Black's sending-off five minutes after the restart was the cue for Sergio's side to unravel.

There was a spat between his defender and keeper that needed his skipper to intervene.

Then Motherwell took full advantage of their extra man as they stretched the Jambos defence to tee up Murphy's winner.

Well's Keith Lasley was also sent packing for a second yellow in the dying minutes. But perhaps the emotion of an eventful week eventually proved too much for Hearts' squad.

After the elation of Europe, players collapsed to the deck in exhaustion at ref Stevie O'Reilly's final whistle after being given the runaround.

There won't have been too much to worry Harry Redknapp's assistant and ex-Jambos boss Joe Jordan, who had made the journey up from London.

Hearts now haven't won any of their opening three games in the league — and after his eventful first few days in the job Sergio will now have a few days' breathing space to assess exactly what's required.

There's no such problem for McCall, whose side have yet to even concede in the league this season.

Murphy's finish will have no doubt seen another tick entered into the books of the several scouts who were again in the stands yesterday.

He might not be good enough for Craig Levein to call him into the Scotland squad but McCall will pray he can hold onto him beyond August 31.

Chris Humphrey was a constant threat with his surging runs while Shaun Hutchinson's absence through injury was barely noticed as Steven Saunders slotted into his place.

With Stephen Elliott added to Sergio's injury list, he had again set up with Ryan Stevenson up front.

But John Sutton was again overlooked as he returned to Fir Park for the first time since his summer move.

Sergio's influence was evident early on as his midfielders and frontmen interchanged and switched to keep Well on their toes.

Yet it was the home side who nearly gifted the Jambos a goal just five minutes in as Craigan horribly miscontrolled. The ball fell perfectly for Andy Driver who took a touch before unleashing a shot that looked destined for the net until Darren Randolph arched his back and pawed away on the stretch.

Nicky Law then failed to connect properly with a shot for Well after good work from both Murphy and Michael Higdon, and saw it drift wide.

Eggert Jonsson nodded over for Hearts before it was Marian Kello's turn to save his side. Tom Hateley sent Humphrey scampering towards the byeline to cross.

The ball eventually made it through to Steve Jennings on the edge of the box who took his time before arrowing a shot which Kello brilliantly pushed away.

Stevenson was shouting for a spot-kick when Craigan nudged him in the back but ref O'Reilly wasn't having it.

Lasley went into the book on 35 minutes after a crunching challenge left Adrian Mrowiec crumpled on the deck.

Randolph was the hero again on the stroke of half-time when the ball ricocheted perfectly into Driver's path.

He burst past Craigan but as he prepared to pull the trigger Randolph timed his run out perfectly and thrust up a hand to block.

But five minutes after the break the Jambos found themselves a man down and up against it. As the ball broke between Black and Lasley, the Well man slid in first to clear.

His reward was a foot to the body as Black blatantly caught him. O'Reilly didn't have a decision to make as he rightly flashed red.

As players came together Black trudged off, bickering with assistant ref Derek Rose in a pointless bid to deflect the blame.

From there a Jambos side that had clicked so well on Thursday night started to cave in. First Kello was raging with Jonsson for not closing down Jennings after a shot deflected over and Marius Zaliukas had to separate the two as they exchanged words.

Then Well's extra man began to tell and Murphy's shot was well blocked before Law's strike deflected out.

It was a sign of things to come though as McCall's men finally broke the deadlock just after the hour.

Again it was Humphrey who started the move, feeding Law down the right. He showed great vision to thread in Murphyand he kept his cool to slam home.

Kello denied Murphy another on 75 minutes.

Then Jamie Hamill was booked for dragging back Humphrey when he might have been sent off without Mrowiec back covering.

Lasley did see red with just three minutes left after picking up a second booking for a foul on Arvydas Novikovas.