Hard defeat to take for Lamie with no points for pressure
AT FIR PARK
MOTHERWELL are still searching for their first point, goal and clean sheet of the season after losing out to Micky Mellon’s industrious Dundee United side at Fir Park on Saturday.
The Steelmen enjoyed plenty of the ball but suffered throughout from a chronic lack of guile and a costly inability to show any sort of incision in the final third.
For their part, United were resolute at the back and disciplined throughout the contest, countering their opponents to great effect at one end and snuffing out chances at the other to keep the hosts at bay.
Mark Reynolds’ second-half goal was all that separated the two sides by the time referee Steven McLean blew his whistle for full time, with the visitors good value for the three points.
The result means that newlypromoted United now have four points from their opening two fixtures back in the big time – a hugely encouraging beginning to life back in the Premiership – with things not quite so rosy for Stephen Robinson’s men.
After a terrific campaign last time around that saw Motherwell finish the season in third, the Lanarkshire outfit have been conspicuously slow out of the traps.
“It was another frustrating one,” conceded Ricky Lamie, who moved to Fir Park from Livingston over the summer. “If you look at the statistics, you would maybe think it was a different game.
“But it was that type of game where we dominated possession, but at the end of the day the only thing that matters is that they scored the only goal.
“It was the same as Monday night [when Motherwell lost to Ross County]. We dominated and lost a poor goal and struggled to break them down.
“We had a couple of chances to take the lead or even level, but we never took them. And you can’t concede goals like we did. It was a hard one to take.”
Despite recording back-toback defeats in his first two outings as a Motherwell player, Lamie reckons he and his team-mates can turn the situation around. The defender saw enough from his side against United that he is confident the goals will eventually arrive – and once they do, a weight will lift off the players’ collective shoulders.
“Definitely, it’s the same at every level,” he said. “If you are dominating games it can get frustrating. We need to keep moving the ball and penetrate them and create more chances.
“The only positive we can take from Monday night and here was that we are dominating teams and creating. It would be a worry if we weren’t creating chances, but we are and the goals will come.”
Lamie may still be acclimatising to life at Motherwell but he is already being asked to contribute in ways he didn’t predict. At Livingston, he caught the eye playing as a lateral centre-half as part of a well-drilled back three but on Saturday, the 27-year-old lined up at left-back.
He says he is happy to slot in wherever he is needed for his new employers, given the relative scarcity of options in that area of the park for Robinson – and believes that playing outside of your preferred role is simply part and parcel of life as a professional footballer.
“The gaffer asked me to play there [at left-back],” he said. “My natural position is centrehalf, but in the modern game guys all over the pitch have to fill in at different positions.
“Liam Donnelly plays three or four different positions and does it very well. So I think it’s key, especially given the smaller size of the squad this season. I’ll always give my all. At times I thought I could have played a lot better myself, but I will always try to chip in.”
A home fixture against a similarly out-of-sorts Livingston on Wednesday will give the Steelmen a chance to get their campaign up and running with their first victory of the season.
Lamie fancies his side’s chances, providing they maintain the level of creative output that they have been showing.
“It will be another tough, tough fixture, but if we keep creating chances we will be all right,” he said.