When we lose to St Johnstone 2-1 seems to be the score, that's four in a row. But this was surely the worst Motherwell performance they had to overcome.
Speaking to MFC TV in his post-match interview McGhee said, "It was a very disappointing performance. It lacked energy, it lacked a lot of things today." Few in the 3,739 crowd would disagree with that.
New style start - referee points forward, we kick back
He suggested that the midweek game at Parkhead had caused more fatigue, both mental and physical, than he had realised. At the same time he recognised that St Johnstone also had a tough struggle.
Whether the weakness was in body or mind hardly matters, we were not in the right shape for this contest. The team from Perth were in better condition.
We have a week to prepare for game three at Ibrox and the manager’s view on the preparation needed is, "We have to go there and be able to out-run them, let alone out-play them, and once we do that we can start thinking about how we can out-play them." On the basis of our last couple of outings that seems unlikely.
Blyth got his first half hour of league action as he continues to build up to his best. He showed enough to suggest that his height and build will give us another option in attack. McDonald did his best to cope with the frequent high ball deliveries that came his way but under those conditions there’s no doubt that a good big ‘un is batter that a good little ‘un. Meanwhile we can only hope that Moult’s recovery is on track and that we can see his return in September.
The U20s have an IRN-BRU tie with Airdrie at Fir Park on Tuesday. Let’s hope they can lighten the mood and march on to the next round.