Steelmen stomp over Spiders
MOTHERWELL boss Steve Robinson expressed satisfaction, rather than delight, after his side flexed their muscles to outgun the League One minnows.
Robinson, whose side eased to victory at the national stadium, said: ‘It was a pleasing start to the season but we had to change things at half-time because we’d become complacent after scoring early.’ Robinson singled-out two-goal Ryan Bowman for praise, adding: ‘That’s what we want — we have a small squad, so we want competition for places and when you get your chance you take it. Ryan has given me something to think about.’
The Steelmen settled any nerves with a well-worked opener, Alex Fisher chesting a cross into the path of Chris Cadden, who finished from nine yards.
The Spiders stunned the visitors with a goal out of the blue when Adam Cummins met a free-kick with a firm downward header.
Motherwell goalkeeper Trevor Carson did superbly to turn the effort on to the bar but the Queen’s man followed up to bundle home.
Kevin Green almost put the underdogs into the lead with a header, while at the other end Fisher went close again.
However, the visitors restored their advantage soon after the break when Craig Tanner pounced on a lapse in the home defence, played a sharp one-two with Gael Bigirimana and slotted into the corner.
Motherwell got the breathing space they wanted when Carl McHugh’s pass found Bowman racing clear to round keeper Wullie Muir to score. Bowman added a fourth three minutes later when he shot high into the net from 14 yards before Louis Moult completed the scoring from a free-kick.
Spiders head coach Gus MacPherson admitted: ‘You can maybe get away with the mistakes we made at our level but Motherwell were brutal the way they punished us. But we take the positives and the first hour was good for us because, although we lost a poor first goal, we fought back into it.’