Although the record books will show the first results in the post-McCall era to be 2-2, 1-0 and 1-0, those who saw the three games following Baraclough's appointment will know that there was no dramatic transformation. As the manager said after the Thistle game, "There’s a lot more to come, we are not kidding ourselves that that was the perfect performance because second half was far from it. We have told them that but the players understand that."
Nevertheless, those three games were against our fellow strugglers and the points won have lifted us from the playoff place with a six point buffer. We're now three points short of Thistle's ninth spot.
For spells in the first half the team played as it had so often in the last few seasons. There was an urgency to move forward, pace from Ainsworth on the right wing and darting runs from Ojamaa. We defended well and it was not until the 45th minute that Twardzik was forced into a save.
The second half was one long nervous wait for the final whistle. Motherwell fans have come to understand that taking a lead inevitably results in a horrible wait for the other side to equalise. We don't go for the kill, instead we allow the opposition to push us back. We all expected Thistle to score as the second half wore on and the final whistle delivered relief and joy in equal measure.
The Ne'erday match with high flying Hamilton is next. If we can produce a third consecutive win then we might have to consider that the new manager has mysterious powers!