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SEPTEMBER.

The sun was shining and Stuart McCall was laughingly shrugging aside playful enquiries about Motherwell's hopes of earning Champions League qualification. February. After a dreary afternoon, the clouds had parted to bathe Fir Park in a golden early-evening glow but there was a sudden seriousness to both the tone of the questions about continental competition and the manager's replies.

Now just six points adrift of Rangers and with a game in hand, second spot has emerged as a tantalising prospect. Victory against Hibernian in midweek would bolster belief but, more pertinently to McCall, earning another three points here on Wednesday would turn the gap between themselves and their fourth-placed opponents yesterday into a chasm, having stretched it to nine points with an impressive 10-man win.

"I know you would like a headline and I'm bored of saying it but we've just been looking at these two massive games against the Edinburgh clubs," McCall insisted. "You can ask me again after Wednesday but what I would say is we lost three on the bounce not so long ago and that can happen again."

There was little chance of that happening yesterday, with this contest effectively over after 38 minutes. That was how long it took the hosts to breach the Hearts defence for the first time; Jamie Murphy's close-range shot was blocked by Jamie MacDonald but the ball broke for Keith Lasley, whose fierce effort rattled against Andy Webster and ricocheted into the net. "We had three chances to clear the box and three times we didn't," said Hearts manager Paulo Sergio.

Given the impotency of Sergio's players, it always seemed likely that goal would be sufficient to earn the points but, just to be sure, McCall's side plumped their cushion three minutes later. Lasley was again involved, dinking in a delicious delivery that Murphy helped over MacDonald with a cute header that kissed the underside of the crossbar on the way in.

For all the howls of protest from the Hearts supporters, the advantage did not flatter Motherwell. They were the better side before the dismissal of Lasley and continued to be so after the midfielder departed in the 54th minute, having been booked a second time for his second robust challenge on Ian Black. At times, goalkeeper MacDonald appeared the only Hearts player capable of curtailing the hosts' relentless attacks. While a little uncomfortable under crosses, he proved his worth as early as the fourth minute with a double save from Henrik Ojamaa and Nicky Law, then continued his resistance after the break, denying both Ojamaa and Murphy. Law, though, continued to pepper his goal – one crashing drive striking woodwork – and was rewarded for his perseverance when Motherwell cleaved Hearts open for a delightful third goal just after the hour.

Ojamaa, who became more outstanding as the match progressed, chased a lost cause down the left and not only won the ball but was aware enough to funnel it infield to Murphy. He opened his body and redirected into the path of the overlapping Law and the Englishman cracked a clinical finish past MacDonald with the aid of an upright.

The goal ended any lingering hopes of a Hearts revival, their lack of potency in attack once again compromising their ambitions. Despite cluttering his side with forward-thinking players, Sergio was left to bemoan a lack of cohesion among the likes of David Templeton, Andrew Driver, Stephen Elliot and David Obua; indeed, the latter could often be seen beseeching his team-mates to offer him options while on the ball.

The first-half introduction of Rudi Skacel for an apparently toiling Templeton and interval arrival of Scott Robinson for Driver helped a little but the visitors still struggled to forge openings, even against 10 men. Their only efforts were a meaty Ryan McGowan shot that whistled narrowly past after the Australian bustled down the right and tame drives by Robinson and Medhi Taouil that Darren Randolph fielded comfortably.

"To do better we need to recover our explosiveness," Sergio said. "We've had a month-and-a-half of playing a game every three days and we need a break because we don't have the squad to do that. We can still catch Motherwell but I remind you what is behind us this season. What happened today is affected by what has happened in the past."

Sergio's remark was met by sage nods; it could be applied, too, to the situation in which Motherwell now find themselves.

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Taken from the Herald