07/12/2024 – MOTHERWELL (H)

There’s no point in trying to dress it up, the game on Saturday was dismal.

Although we started fairly brightly, our failure to score during this period, like the previous week against Dundee Utd, ultimately came back to haunt us, and this would be our Achilles heel this campaign so far, if it wasn’t for our close to becoming atrocious record at defending set pieces.

5 of the last 6 goals we’ve conceded have been from set pieces; either corner kicks, free kicks or penalty kicks. We also conceded a goal less than a minute after having a player sent off for the second week running.

It sounds bad, but the good news is Alex Iacovitti has now completed two weeks training and was on the bench yesterday, and he should give us undoubted height and aerial aggression again, probably missing since James Bolton left the club.

‘Big Iac’ will definitely be needed on Saturday as Alex Gogic will of course be suspended. In our view, the decision to send off Saints number 13 against Motherwell was probably a more ludicrous one than Marcus Fraser the previous week at Tannadice, but as it was two bookings we are unable to appeal, so the Cypriot defenders run of 67 consecutive first team matches in all competitions will come to an end.

Stephen Robinson will have a lot of thinking to do before then. For the second week in a row we won a number of key battles all over the park, but failed to create any real clear cut chances, with an individual piece of magic from Conor McMenamin the closest we came to scoring when his shot rattled the bar in the first half.

Does the manager stick with the 5-2-3 formation that was so succesful last season, or tweak it slightly and give Olusanya more central support against St Johnstone by playing a second striker? If the Perth club start with a deep defence like Dundee United and Motherwell did to nullify the threat of Olusanya, can we wait 60-70 minutes to make the changes?

It’s difficult be critical of the manager or players, however. They’ve endured a lot this season, which has been well publicised, but still remain 7th in the league and firmly in the hunt for European football again, despite having lost 3 key players from our squad since the transfer window shut in early September, as well as having to deal with the usual injuries/suspensions issues every club has to contend with.

The transfer window is however approaching rapidly now, and if the manager decides to shuffle the strikers at the club, perhaps he will recall Kieran Offord from Northern Ireland, who has been in great form for Crusaders with 11 goals already this season and impressing a wide range of pundits and fans with his performances.

With Evan Mooney also impressing in the youth set up as we stated last week, the manager does have internal options at his disposal, and that is good news with funds not always available to strengthen in the forward areas, which can often require a more generous financial outlay than other positions.

In any case, the manager is likely to be looking for players than can make a difference at the right end of the park, but so is every other manager in the world, and it may not be easy in January to make a game changing signing.

We are however, not far away from having a squad that can cement a third successive top 6 spot in our humble opinion, and although the last 2 matches have been very frustrating, we should travel to McDiarmid Park in numbers to back the side in an effort to get back on track.

All is not doom and gloom of course. Ellery Balcombe made a couple of stunning saves on Saturday, with Scott Tanser, Mark O’Hara and Elvis Bwomono continuing their good run of form with further solid performances.

Then of course there was the Christmas special pie from Pie Sports. Pigs and blankets, with cheesy mash and turkey gravy, encased in pastry. Sometimes life can through up stark contrasts of something sublime within a bleak setting, unfortunately the sublime was sold at the kiosks and not on the park, but that’s only this week, it will return!

COYS!

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Motherwell Players of the Match:

5 points – Mark O’Hara

3 points – Ellery Balcombe

1 point – Elvis Bwomono