Neither side offered much in the way of silky passing football. For long spells the ball was swapped between the teams as misplaced passes and strong tackles made it difficult for any productive possession with the exception of a couple of Motherwell gems in the first half.
The goals that produced our two goal lead would pass the quality threshold in any company. Ainsworth produced an excellent driven cross for Sutton to convert for the first before the winger executed a classic nutmeg followed by a perfectly placed curler for the second. At that stage the home crowd made their feeling known and our hosts struggled to stay in the game.
Well played Lionel
Despite our defensive failings it would be churlish not to recognise that Hibs showed a determination to recover and they used their height advantage to level the game and set up a nail biting last fifteen minutes. Heffernan’s powerful strike produced a roar that might have been heard on Princes Street and it seemed that we had blown our chance. The inevitable chants of “two up and you f*** it up” duly followed.
The sight of Sutton diving headlong to nod the ball over the line for the final goal will be long remembered by the 500 Motherwell fans behind the South Stand goal. There have been a few celebrations at that end most recently when McHugh scored in the 88th minute last season to seal a 3-2 win (overturning a two goal deficit) and most famously 20 years ago when Krivocapic sent us into raptures with his first Motherwell goal.
The fixture list has delivered a quirky run. The Tayside pair were followed by the Edinburgh duo and we look forward to home meetings against the Highland couple starting with the arrival of Inverness next midweek.
Last and by no means least, congratulations to players and management for guaranteeing a finish in the top half of the table. It says much for our progress in recent years that the achievement has become routine. After the exodus at the the end of last season it seemed an unlikely prospect.
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