WE NEED TO GET STREETWISE JUST LIKE STEELMEN, WARNS McKAY
THE warning from Barrie McKay to his Hearts team-mates is about as stark as it gets. This was just a taste of what the league is going to be like for them from now on — and they better start figuring out a new way to get results.
Robbie Neilson’s men had an opportunity to leapfrog Celtic into second place in the Premiership at Fir Park, but they were never at the races. Motherwell knocked them out of their stride and refused to let the visitors play to their strengths. Were it not for some fine saves from Craig Gordon, it could have been more than two goals after centre-back Taylor Moore was sent off for a second bookable offence midway through the second half.
Neilson seemed upset with the number of free-kicks awarded by Willie Collum, with the home side determined to break up the flow of the game, but his side really need to do better at both ends of the pitch.
The only player who showed any kind of sustained creativity was McKay. Twice, he sent colleagues straight through on goal with passes of real vision and, twice, he saw them make an absolute mess of it.
So what will it take to turn around a recent record of one win in six games that has dented hopes of Hearts keeping the heat on the Old Firm?
‘Motherwell obviously had a game plan and played it well,’ said ex-Rangers forward McKay. ‘We couldn’t get into the game. Maybe we were a bit naive. We need to do the ugly side of the game as well.
‘We still created chances which, on another day, we put away. But every team who looks at us will try and play the same way. We need to find a way to beat that, and that’s on us as players. ‘Motherwell slowed the game down, winning lots of free-kicks. That’s what I’m talking about in terms of naivety. Giving the ref a decision to make. If you give them a wee bit of space, then they can’t go down.
‘There are times when we’re probably a bit too honest. We get tackled and try to stay on our feet. Everybody has different styles of play. If that’s the way they play, then we need to find a way to beat it.’
Motherwell celebrated lustily with their fans after goals from Connor Shields and Ricki Lamie moved them to within three points of third-placed Hearts. ‘You see the way they celebrated,’ said McKay. ‘They know they were up against a really good team. It’s a top side and we’re sitting third in the league. We aren’t there by chance. It’s only our second defeat of the season.’ Those up front need to do better. Ten minutes in, McKay picked out Ben Woodburn with a brilliant diagonal pass to send him clean through. The Welshman couldn’t even get the ball under control. At 1-0 at the end of the first half, he sent Josh Ginnelly racing in on goal — only for the Irishman to get the ball caught under his feet. This was a thoroughly merited win for Graham Alexander’s side which has Lamie targeting a return to Europe. ‘You’ve got to aim high, especially at this time of the year,’ said the defender. ‘Games are coming thick and fast and, if you keep on picking up three points, then you’re going to be there or thereabouts. ‘We won at Pittodrie before the international break and it would have been easy to become a bit complacent but we worked hard right through it and put on an even better performance.’ Lamie’s header to make it 2-0 from a Sean Goss free-kick came just moments after Moore had been sent off for a needless foul drawn by Shields. Shields also opened the scoring on 23 minutes with his first goal in claret-andamber and showed why Alexander implored him to stay when he raised the possibility of going out on loan. ‘I said to him in the dressing room before the game: “Just think goals”,’ said Lamie. ‘It’s been a frustrating time for him because we have a lot of quality players in the forward areas but Connor is a grafter and what he does for the team is brilliant. ‘He also bought the red card for Taylor Moore. He does that in training, too, playing on your shoulder all the time. He’s a nightmare for defenders.’