Well set for separating the big two

By MOIRA GORDON
Published on Saturday 18 February 2012 17:52

LAST weekend there were 19 points between Motherwell and the prospect of Champions League qualifiers, but by the end of a tumultuous week and a 90 minutes which saw them seize the initiative and the momentum, Stuart McCall’s men sit just six points adrift of Rangers, further buoyed by the knowledge that they also have a game in hand.

Almost as importantly they have also stretched their lead over fourth-placed Hearts to nine points as they reassert their status as best of the rest in this season’s SPL campaign.

“We knew how important this was. Hearts could have reduced it to three points but we have now made it nine,” said the Fir Park manager, who was still not willing to admit they are now genuine contenders to split the Old Firm. “We knew we had two massive games against the Edinburgh teams, with Hibs next up on Wednesday, and if we can now win that one as well then that’s us 12 points clear of Hearts and we know that’s a big gap at this stage of the season.

“But we can’t get carried away. If we can keep playing like that and it brings us the points then we will see where that takes us.”

With all that is going on round about them, the last thing Rangers need is a side like Motherwell breathing down their necks. Especially as this is a team that has no qualms about going in for the kill if they get the slightest whiff of blood.

They have proven that already this term, previously fending off St Johnstone when they threatened their claim to third place, and they underlined it yesterday as they dismantled Hearts. A match that had been finely poised, a whirlwind end to the first half saw them net two goals in three minutes to take control of proceedings. Even after they went down to ten men in the 51st minute and with Hearts aware that a comeback goal could see the pendulum swing in their favour, the home outfit were still able to turn the screw.

The sustained pressure paid off in the 65th minute when they got a killer third goal which, despite Paulo Sergio players’ recent penchant for late fightbacks, effectively ended any hopes of the points being shared.

Motherwell had started with an intensity which threatened to burn their visitors. In the fourth minute Hearts keeper Jamie MacDonald had to make a double save from Henrik Ojamaa, left, and then Steve Jennings. Surviving that scare, Hearts managed to get into the game and aside from the early initiation of the feisty Keith Lasley v Ian Black battle in the middle of the park, which would ultimately prove costly for the home captain, there was a paucity of noteworthy action. Some decent play from the home side, who were aided by a bit of indecision in the Hearts rearguard, gave them a slight territorial advantage, but there was a bit of a stalemate until Motherwell found the breakthrough in the 38th minute. Ironically it came just after Hearts had mustered a decent break, with Ryan McGowan charging past Tim Clacy to drive a low shot across goal and just narrowly past the far post.

The opener came from a Tom Hateley corner in, which rattled around the Hearts penalty box with no-one able to clear and when Lasley fired a pacy ball into the six yard box, Andy Webster couldn’t get out the way and deflected it into his own net.

Three minutes later and Motherwell looked thoroughly at ease as they doubled their tally. This time it was a beautiful wee chipped pass in from Lasley and Jamie Murphy’s header looped up and then ducked just in off the underside of the bar. “I’m disappointed with the result and the performance. We gave ourselves problems,” said the Hearts boss, who said it would be unfair to even expect his side to be finishing third given the loss of what he described as three key players in January. “For the first goal, we could have got the ball away three times but three times we didn’t put it out of our box and it was an own goal. For the second goal, Lasley was all alone with no player near him and it was an easy goal for Motherwell.

“Even when we played against ten men they found the space and did their jobs very well.”

They gained the extra man advantage in the 51st minute when Lasley again tackled Black and, for the second time, referee Alan Muir deemed it a bookable offence.

But even then Motherwell were searching and passing and out-playing their guests in the creative and competitive stakes. Sergio put that down to weariness in the ranks. Bemoaning a small squad, he said that too many players seemed drained of the explosiveness, their pace and their verve and insisted he was looking forward to a full week off between fixtures in the hope it would help recharge batteries.

If Hearts were running on empty, the sight of Ojamaa constantly running at them, beating two, three and four men at a time, must have been the stuff of nightmares, while the movement of the men tucking in behind him in midfield was simply a recipe for greater misery.

It was the Estonian who charged through maroon-bedecked bodies to open things up for the third goal, eventually playing in Murphy, who fed it on to Nicky Law and the midfielder finally got the goal his play had merited. Denied by the post and narrowly sending another effort just over the bar, when the ball came to him in virtually the same position, coming in at an angle from the right, in the 65th minute, he buried it.

He hailed the performance as his team’s best of the season. “We felt this was the biggest game of our season so far and it has been a perfect day for us all round. The way we played made it easier than we would have thought it would be. But no, we’ve not spoken about catching Rangers.”

They might not have spoken about it, but after this performance many others are.

Taken from the Scotsman