Motherwell 1
Dundee Utd 2
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

The Fir Park side may be bottom of the League, but on the evidence of this performance it is hardly a position that they merit. Frankly, we were a little bit lucky to collect both points against a Motherwell side which never gave up. However, as Celtic are finding just now, when luck deserts you everything seems to go wrong. Even the boost of an early goal failed to turn Motherwell's luck. Only five minutes had ticked by when Tom Boyd engineered a goal for Steve Kirk, who stole in to flash a header past Billy Thomson. Motherwell might have had a second seven minutes later when Paul Kinnaird twisted and turned to send a shot just past the far post.

A couple of minutes later came our best opportunity in the match so far. Billy McKinlay's perfect chip forward found Alex Cleland and Duncan did well to save the youngster's shot at his near post. An equaliser was only delayed for a few minutes however. In the seventeenth minute Mixu knocked the ball in to Kevin Gallacher who beat Duncan to the ball but although facing away from goal, Kevin turned quickly to send over a cross to the far post which Ian Redford headed in. The activity continued to centre around the Motherwell goal as Billy McKinlay had a shot blocked and then John Clark hit a 35 yarder of awesome power which Duncan could only turn round for a corner. Motherwell however, continued to come back at us and Steve Cowan headed straight at Billy Thomson in the 34th minute.

Early in the second half we almost scored on a couple of occasions. First Mixu Paatelainen sent in a quick snap shot which Duncan was more than glad to see narrowly evade the far post and then Maurice Malpas hammered in a shot from the edge of the box, which was only fractionally high. We did go ahead in the 63rd minute when a free-kick was awarded for a foul on Kevin Gallacher just outside the box. Ian Redford stepped up to curl the ball over the wall and just inside Duncan's left-hand post.

Although this proved to be the winner, there were a couple of heart stopping moments for United fans before the end. In the 60th minute, Billy Thomson made a brilliant save from Farningham and did even better to block McCabe's follow up effort. Then there was more drama in front of Billy Thomson, when ten minutes remaining, Patterson nodded down a corner, which Kirk, fortunately for us, blasted over.

All in all these were two hard earned points against a side deserving a better fate than their current lowly status.