Our inability to win key fixtures has condemned us to the lottery of a two-legged contest and few of the long suffering fans who have seen us take three points once in the last five matches will give much for our chances at the end of the month.
1,444 Motherwell fans had their hopes dashed
The manager expressed his frustration and disappointment after watching his side take the lead with 15 minutes remaining then fail to see the game out. He felt there was enough experience in the team to close the game down. “We’ve switched off from a set piece when we think it’s going out of play. We’ve not dealt with it when it’s come back into the box. When we took the lead there was almost a sense of panic. We were unable to hold the ball or work it to create another goal.”
The lead and the initiative had already been lost by the time McDonald was sent off. It looked like an error and it should be remedied by the appeal but we cannot use that as an excuse for our slackness. We were the team desperate for the win to keep the struggle alive for the last game of the season and we faced a side already relegated. The game summed us our season, missed opportunities, inability to capitalise on good fortune and weak defending. It’s no wonder that fans are questioning the survival of the manager.
Baraclough produced the expected call to arms when faced with the reality of the play-offs. “There is no hiding place, everyone needs to stand up and be counted, players need to show that they are up for the fight”. He suggested that some of the fringe players would get a chance to claim a place when Partick Thistle come to Fir Park on Saturday.
Our new owner was at the game and he’ll have gained a deeper understanding of the problems we face. Whether he has any solutions remains to be seen but he will meet supporters at the Centenary Suite on Tuesday evening for a Q&A session. No doubt the appeal to fans will be predictable but most in the audience will expect to be following the team to some rarely visited grounds next season.