Any Motherwell fan with a few spare minutes could do worse than to enter “Motherwell top of the league” in Google. There the happy reader will be able to rejoice in headlines syndicated worldwide proclaiming that Murphy’s goal on the hour restored our position on the top of the heap.
It’s not often that we have the opportunity to indulge in such pastimes and there’s no reason why everyone involved in the club should not make the best of it.
Sunday’s game (just to underline the point) means that we have started the season with 7 points from a possible 9, with no goals conceded and with a table topping 4 goals scored. We could hardly have wished for a better opening spell.
When the SPL fixture list was unveiled in June it was clear that the computer had dealt us a hand that offered a chance of a decent start. Optimists saw the chance of a flyer while pessimists warned that if we stumbled early that a heavy price would follow. We can all agree now that the first hurdle has been cleared.
The small first team pool has not hindered us, yet. McCall’s reliance on the starting eleven can be seen from his use of substitutes to date. In the three games the fourth official has had to raise the board on only two occasions. In the opener Smith came on for Higdon in 83 minutes and against Hearts Carswell relieved a tiring Murphy in the 90th minute.
It was pleasing to hear a decent round of applause when Sutton came off the bench on Sunday. Too often fans are denied the chance to thank players for their contribution and there’s no denying that Sutton has played a big part for us in recent years.
We’ll have to plan for the game against St Mirren without Lasley. He paid a big price for a tackle that would have earned a ticking off earlier in the game but to his credit he accepted the referee’s decision without any of complaint. The new manager at Hearts should be having a word with Black about his behaviour in similar circumstances.