FRAUGHT AT GLORY
Steelmen safe but it’s been rollercoaster ride after new boss gamble
STEPHEN ROBINSON had a dozen games to save Motherwell. He did it with one to spare.
Fir Park chiefs made a big decision when they axed Mark McGhee in February and handed the reins to the Northern Irishman.
It was a big gamble. Last night it paid off for them.
Robinson started his tenure with a win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. He made big calls, big substitutions that day to turn a game and win it.
He did the same again last night to round it all off.
After Killie’s Adam Frizzell had cancelled out a Carl McHugh opener and ramped up the stress levels Robinson’s bold first-half move to plunge Lionel Ainsworth into the fray in place of kid David Ferguson proved pivotal. Inspired, in fact.
The sub scored the key second goal to regain control for his team and had a hand in Elliott Frear’s clincher before he was taken off at the death for a standing ovation.
With Hamilton unable to beat Ross County, Robinson and his players had done the business.
Survival, job security for staff. It had been on the line for three months and they handled it.
Which was just as well because, despite a brilliant opening last night, there were fraught times before it was done.
Whether it was at Fir Park or 184 miles up the road in Dingwall, the start could not have been any better for Robinson.
Before the match had even started in Lanarkshire word filtered through that play-off rivals Hamilton were already 1-0 down at Ross County.
And within a minute of kick-off the Steelmen were 1-0 up.
Frear’s corner-kick routine to McHugh wasn’t spotted by the Killie defence and the midfielder took advantage of the space to drill home first time with his left peg.
Motherwell looked fired up. Louis Moult had a drive blocked and Keith Lasley received an unlucky booking for a crunching but fair tackle on Frizzell.
Regardless of what was going on in the Highlands the hosts had set out determined complete the survival mission on their own.
At that stage things were going perfectly. Sadly for Robinson, keeping goals out at the other end has been an issue all campaign and the old failing soon came back to ramp the tension up.
Killie had been second best for much of the opening exchanges yet were level in 18 minutes.
Lasley’s failure to deal with a cross from Jordan Jones saw the ball presented to Frizzell inside the box and the midfielder stroked home a leveller to undo Motherwell’s sterling initial work.
Suddenly the old jitters were back for the Steelmen. Killie, safe and free of anxiety, started expressing themselves.
Jones couldn’t find a taker for an inviting centre from the left flank and home keeper Russell Griffiths dashed from his line to deny rampaging full-back Greg Taylor in a one-on-one joust.
Information from Dingwall that Accies had also found an equaliser did nothing to alter the Fir Park fans’ mood of worry. On the pitch it had become as much about nerve as talent.
Maybe it was the stress levels involved that explained why Moult missed a gilt-edged chance to restore his team’s advantage before the break.
The 18-goal striker was gifted a one on one after a dreadful misjudgment of a long ball from Kristoffer Ajer.
Moult had a clear run at Jamie MacDonald yet he never got the ball out of his feet and hit the keeper with his strike.
Robinson needed fresh impetus. Ainsworth replaced Ferguson before half-time and injected a bit of thrust back into the home team. But it remained level at the break and that was only because Taylor’s curler hit the top of the Well bar and not the net just before the whistle.
Home frustrations kicked in after the interval when ref Nick Walsh booked Craig Clay for driving after he went down in the box under a challenge from Dean Hawkshaw.
Which made it even more ironic when Ainsworth struck in controversial circumstances.
Walsh judged Taylor to have decked Frear. He booked him into the bargain when it looked a harsh decision to even give a free-kick.
Ainsworth deserved credit for making the break count though, his whipped cross-shot from a tight angle flying straight into the far corner of the net.
Back it had swung in Well’s favour. And it would have been all over on the hour if MacDonald hadn’t scrambled a valuable touch on a driven Chris Cadden cross to deny Moult a far-post tap-in.
The Steelmen did wrap it up 11 minutes from time. And it was worth hanging on for.
Ainsworth nicked possession to spring Moult and the entire stadium could see Frear free if the striker could pick him out.
Moult didn’t disappoint and his pass allowed the kid to round MacDonald with one touch and slot home with his second.
The place exploded. The job was completed.