McCall calls it correctly as defences have upper hand

Richard Winton
Assistant Sports Editor

'I DID warn you yesterday," said Stuart McCall, as he began his assessment of this grim struggle.

The Motherwell manager had dedicated a chunk of his pre-match media conference to eulogising Hearts' defence and warned goals were likely to be scarce in an encounter between two evenly matched and equally unyielding teams.

His only mistake was in suggesting it might take until stoppage time for parity to be disturbed. As it was, the teams huffed and puffed their way to a share of the points, something few sides in the SPL can afford to be ungrateful for given its competitivenes. That said, their failure to break down an obdurate Hearts prolongs an increasingly alarming home run for Motherwell

They have won just once in 10 matches at Fir Park, the rampant performance at Inverness last week replaced by a subdued display in front of their own fans.

The pace and width that caused the Highlanders such trouble was contained and the supply cut; the double pivot midfield of Darren Barr and Dylan McGowan crowded the space of Keith Lasley and Nicky Law in a way Inverness found beyond them. Consequently, sights of goal were scarce. Michael Higdon was twice afforded headed opportunities from Chris Humphrey deliveries, heading the first wide then improving his accuracy the second time only for Jamie MacDonald to punch past.

A Nicky Law scud past was the only other time the goalkeeper was exercised before the interval and that pattern of relative inactivity persisted after the break, the 26-year-old only called upon to thwart at the feet of Higdon. "We maybe could have nicked it but they were a very tough team to break down," McCall said. "We were better in the second half but a point was probably fair."

At least the Fir Park manager could reflect on his side's second clean sheet of the campaign, as a Hearts side who have now scored just seven times in their last nine outings were equally impotent.

The callow nature of their attack – Jason Holt and Jamie Walker playing behind Callum Paterson – begat an enthusiastic approach, but the they lacked the nous to breach Motherwell's resistance. Indeed, for all that the visitors enjoyed plenty of prominence in the opening half, their only opportunities of note were a Paterson spin and slash and a rasping Ryan Stevenson effort, both of which Darren Randolph fielded with relative ease.

The Tynecastle side will argue that the goalkeeper should not have been on the pitch but then, however, given the fury caused when he caught Paterson as he came out to claim a deflected Barr drive.

McGlynn argued afterwards that the Irishman's right foot was in an unnatural position, and McCall conceded he had been told that his player was perhaps fortunate, but Crawford Allan deemed the collision accidental.

"I don't think it was malicious but he was maybe a little bit lucky," said McGlynn, who agreed he, like McCall, had yet to see a replay. "It could have had a big impact. I'm not being mischievous, but you do wonder if that is on a referee's mind sometimes." Randolph's intent was not in question later in the game, though, when he flung himself at a Walker strike, the youngster having adroitly made space for the shot. However, that was the last time he was summoned, a Ryan McGowan header that flashed wide Hearts' only other chance.

"It was a hard-earned point with a lot of effort, commitment and desire," said McGlynn. "I thought we were dangerous on the counter and could maybe have capitalised more but a point is not too bad."

Taken from the Herald