Motherwell U21s Draw with Hibs

Last updated : 15 September 2003 By Evenflow

Hibs kicked off with the far more experienced team. Paul Fenwick, Jarko Wiss, Alen Orman, Stephen Dobbie and Tam McManus were included in the the Hibs line-up.

The visitors had the best of the opening exchanges and were denied an opening goal early on when a free kick from the right was magnificently turned round by Barry Corr.

The opening goal came in the thirteenth minute from a Tam McManus free kick. Good work on the left from Dobbie saw the Hibs forward brought down by Ballantyne about thirty yards from goal. Up stepped McManus, and his free kick crashed of the bar, rebounded back off of Corr and in to the net. 1-0 Hibs, and no more than they deserved.

Hibs continued to pile on the pressure and they were only denied a second by the legs of Corr in goals. A good ball from the left was mis-timed by Kinniburgh. The Hibs striker lashed the ball on the half volley for Corr to make the save.


Half way through the second half, a really badly mis-timed tackle by Baillie on Stevie Craig produced the first yellow card. You could hear the crunch of the tackle from the back of the main stand! It really was a bad one. Maybe if it was a first team game, Baillie may have seen red for the challenge.

Hibs continued to create and were having the best of the play, with Motherwell holding firm at the back with good organisation from Paul Quinn.

Tam McManus struck a sweet half volley home only for it to be chopped off as the game had been brought back for high feet by Hibs No 8 Kevin Nichol.


Motherwell’s first real opportunity came on the fortieth minute when a good ball by Jason Dair sent Stevie Craig through. The striker was about to pull the trigger when the defence recovered just in time to take the sting out of the shot.

The second half got under way with Hibs continuing to look the more likely team. They created one or two half chances but again, Corr looked comfortable in the Motherwell goal.

The home side equalised when good build up play saw the ball rolled to the feet of Stevie Craig. His brilliant turn and shot produced a good save by Hyldgaard but Kenny Wright was there to tuck away the rebound into the top left hand corner.

‘Well gained confidence from the goal, and they started to spray the ball about with a bit more consistency. Craig had another effort held well by the Hibs keeper. The game petered out and turned into a midfield battle. Both teams tried to change it with late substitutions, but the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Motherwell: Corr, Ballantyne, Quinn, Kinniburgh, Mathie. Wright, Fagan, MacDonald, Dair, Scott (sub 80 Barkey), Craig. Subs: A. Reid, Higgins, Neville, P. Reid.

Hibernian: Hyldgaard, Whittaker, Edge, Baillie, Fenwick, Wiss, Orman, Nicol, McManus, Dobbie (sub 75 ?????), Thomson Subs: Reid, Brown, Sheilds, McDonald, Cruikshanks