FOUR-GOAL MOULT IS OUICK AS A FLASHBACK
Well hero Louis emulates gaffer with Accies goal blitz
Mark McGhee told of his joy after Louis Moult matched HIS feat of scoring four goals against Accies.
The red-hot hitman marked his return from injury by claiming a thrilling 12-minute hat- trick before adding a fourth after the break to kill off their rivals’ hopes of a revival.
And former striker McGhee revealed that his only four-goal haul in a distinguished career was also against Hamilton.
The Wel l boss said: “We always expect Louis to score but we weren’t expecting him to get four. I only did that once in my career and, oddly enough, that was also against Hamilton so history repeats itself.
“It looked as though we were in cruise control at 3- 0 and the
way we got to that stage was pleasing. It was the way you hoped to play, with the quality of the goals and of Moulty’s finishing.
“For him to come back and get that quick hat-trick was fantastic. We’ve talked about how much we’ve needed him and that just proves it.
“Then we had those 10 minutes before half-time when we lost the goal and became a bit nervous.
“We got a penalty to make it 4-1 and I thought we’d settle down and maybe get a fifth. But they scored again and the nerves came back.
“It was a strange afternoon. In that opening 35 minutes we passed the ball the way I’ve been asking them to. It was our best spell of the season by some distance. Credit to them for coming back but we saw it out.”
Moult was happy to let strike partner Ryan Bowman take the spot-kick but the gaffer insisted the designated penalty taker should do the honours.
McGhee added: “I told Ryan to give Louis the ball. I’d every confidence Ryan would score but whenever he’s on the pitch, Louis takes our penalties.”
Motherwell started brightly and Chris Cadden bolted down the right but his cross was gathered by on-loan Norwich keeper Remi Matthews.
Moult then teed up Scott McDonald but he smashed his attempt over on the half-volley.
Moult had the ball in the net from a Cadden set-up in seven minutes only to have it correctly ruled out for offside.
But a minute later he slipped the ball past Matthews for the opening goal after keeper Craig Samson’s long kick- out was flicked on by Bowman.
A couple of minutes later Bowman got on the end of a Cadden pass in the danger area but couldn’t divert it goalwards.
However, it was 2- 0 in 13
minutes when Moult latched on to a deep Cadden cross to head in at the far post.
Accies rallied and Dougie Imrie teed up Ali Crawford but the midfielder blasted over.
And Moult completed his hat-trick in the 21st minute. The the home defence again failed to deal with a Cadden cross and Eng l ishman Moult smashed a volley into the net.
Hamilton pulled one back in 36 minutes , Crawford exchanging passes with Grant Gillespie before curling into the far corner of Samson’s net.
And five minutes before the break, Crawford’s free-kick hit the base of the post and Georgios Sarris somehow guided the loose ball wide from a couple of yards.
Accies started the second half at warp speed and striker Eamonn Brophy was denied by Samson at close range.
But in 50 minutes Moult claimed his fourth from the spot after Darren Lyon brought down Bowman.
Seconds later Louis Longridge cleared a Stephen McManus shot off the line. But in 64 minutes Crawford bagged another one for the visitors with a snap- shot after sub Rakish Bingham set him up.
Accies weren’t finished and Bingham saw a header cleared off the line by Ben Heneghan.
Things got a bit heated in the
closing stages, with Imrie going in the book for hacking down Cadden.
Brophy had a great chance to cut the gap four minutes from time but he headed wide.
Accies boss Martin Canning said: “The first 20 minutes killed us. We didn’t start at all and didn’t compete and that was something we stressed we’d have to do.
“In a derby you have to compete from minute one and we didn’t. I thought we were the dominant team after the first 20 and on another day we’d score more than two goals.
“It’s a lways dif f icult to come back from 3- 0 down. The players didn’t give up.”