“Comments such as; we can’t defend; we had all that pressure in the first half and scored only once ; the referee was rubbish and we should never have lost that, were uttered with a shake of the head.
It looked so good after 15 minutes. We had the Hibs team trapped into the last third and Sutton had given us the lead. We passed the ball well and made progress down both flanks. Humphrey’s pace caused them problems. When possession was lost we pressed and chased until the ball was recovered. We had a few chances but it seemed that we would reach the interval with our well earned lead intact. In added time Lasley’s clumsy challenge led to a free kick about 25 yards out. We failed to clear Riordan’s high ball and paid the price when Stokes found himself unguarded inside the six yard box. There must have been bewilderment in both dressing rooms at the half time score.
The second half belonged to the visitors. They were more adventurous and threatened with every attack. Randolph did well to keep them out but we fell foul to another ball floated into the box as they took the lead. Worse was to follow and we were soon down 1-3. We reduced the margin to one with Murphy’s penalty but the game was lost.
Our hopeless record in opening day fixtures continues. Motherwell have won only once in the last eleven attempts. Thankfully that seems to have little bearing on tour final placing.
A quick look at the new striking duo suggests that there may be some potential there for goals later in the season. They joined Murphy and Sutton at the end as we threw everything into the box in the final minutes but the big Hibs defenders soaked up the pressure with ease.
Next Sunday we play at Rugby Park and that game will give us a chance to get the league campaign back on track. A decent result in Odense on Thursday would help to lift the spirits!