Frear winner makes it four out of four for Well

MOTHERWELL

Frear 82

BERWICK RANGERS

1

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson feels there is plenty more to come from his team despite their successful Betfred Cup group campaign.

Robinson’s side beat Berwick on Saturday to seal a place among the second-round seeds but, after nine goals in their opening two games against Queen’s Park and Morton, they again toiled to finish off League Two opposition.

After a late win over Edinburgh City in midweek, they needed an 82nd-minute goal from the impressive Elliot Frear to reach 12 points.

Robinson said: “[Assistant] Keith Lasley said to me that we’ve won four out of four, created a lot of chances, scored a lot of goals and conceded minimal goals, but we’re still only 60 per cent happy. We believe there’s a lot more to come.

“We obviously made harder work of it than we wanted to, but there was a lot of positives. Cedric Kipre and Charles Dunne were outstanding, as was Carl Mchugh when he went to the back.

“Elliott Frear was fantastic

0 Elliott Frear: Impressive too. We’ve put in another load of crosses, over 40 again. The last two games it’s 80-90 crosses so we’re doing something right.”

Louis Moult forced two good stops from on-loan Rangers goalkeeper Robby Mccrorie and also failed to make the most of a series of headed chances, although he was far from alone.

The striker was making his first start following groin surgery and does not look certain to start against Rangers in the Ladbrokes Premiership opener next Sunday.

“He’s had minimal training time so we are conscious of not pushing him too hard,” said Robinson. “We know he’s still a wee bit away in terms of sharpness.

“A fit Louis Moult would probably have had a hat-trick in the first half. But he’s getting there, which is a pleasing aspect, and he’s not had a reaction to it.”