Motherwell’s point came out of left field
fans here. There’s so many people that follow the club, I look at it like I am the lucky one. So you have to enjoy it and that’s what I try to do.”
Sadly for someone else trying to make their mark at a club, Dundee’s failure to gain a point was due to a miss by El Bakhtaoui likely to haunt him for some time to come.
The substitute need not castigate himself for the way in which he helped fashion the chance, but his finish was woeful. The evident rustiness is perhaps connected to his limited playing time since recovering from injury. “One minute I was on the bench and then the manager put me on,” he reflected, with the suggestion the opportunity had come too soon for him. “We had been pushing Celtic and then the chance came. I won’t miss it next time.”
ST JOHNSTONE
Kane 62
MOTHERWELL
Clark 12 og
1
Motherwell manager Mark Mcghee was happy with his side’s first point against topfive opposition this season after an improvised side went to Perth and drew 1-1.
With left-backs Steven Hammell and Joe Chalmers among those missing through injury, Mcghee opted for a three-man central defence featuring David Ferguson with another under20s player, Jack Mcmillan, just outside him on the left. Striker Scott Mcdonald started on the left wing.
The visitors were gifted a 12th-minute opener when goalkeeper Zander Clark spilled Richard Tait’s low cross into his own net. Saints levelled midway through the second half when Chris Kane benefited from a ricochet after Craig Samson had saved from close range.
Mcghee said: “I will settle with the point. I would have taken a point on the way up to be honest. They are a good team, they work hard, they have a good way about them, they mix it up.
“Given our left side was improvised, with young Ferguson, who is a right-sided defender, young Jack, who is a right-sided defender, and Scott Mcdonald, who is a centre-forward, to come here with a left side like that and get a point is decent.”
St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright felt his side should have won the game and they had the best chance to do so when Samson saved from Blair Alston. “It was a good team performance,” he said. “We just couldn’t get the second goal.”