TURNING POINT
Teenager’s rocket seals first home win in seven months for improving Steelmen
MOTHERWELL fans’ seven-month wait for a home win is finally over but, for basement club Dundee, the nightmare continues.
It was a fourth consecutive defeat without scoring for new Dens Park boss Jim McIntyre, who surely cannot wait for the transfer window to open in January.
The squad he inherited from Neil McCann is clearly not fit for purpose and, although they displayed some fight, the lack of invention and cutting edge was clear for all to see. And the lack of confidence evident in their recent displays hardly encourages players to express themselves.
There were few stripped for action yesterday who seem capable of that in even the best of circumstances.
Motherwell goalkeeper Trevor Carson did not have a save to make during the 90 minutes and, for a team battling for survival, that is a searing indictment in itself.
For Motherwell, though, this was a second win in four days and a sign of better things to come.
‘I did worry that the goal wasn’t going to come,’ admitted home boss Stephen Robinson. ‘In some of the recent games we’ve lost, we created chances and missed them but you need to keep believing and we did that. We had a lot of chances and deserved to win the game.
‘We knew there was a little gap opening up. And although we’re not out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination, we can go to Ibrox next weekend with confidence now. We’ve played Rangers once and drawn with them but our players have now earned the right to go there and have a go at them.
‘After that, we have Aberdeen and it gives us a chance to close the gap on them. If we can keep playing like this — and, crucially, keep defending like we did today — then we can keep climbing the table.’
It took the home side just two minutes to force the first save of the afternoon, a rasping 25-yarder from Gael Bigirimana which Jack Hamilton beat away at full stretch.
Dundee came closer in the 11th minute when defender Darren O’Dea’s header from Calvin Miller’s corner came back off the crossbar before being scrambled to safety.
The vociferous travelling support screamed for a penalty when Jesse Curran took a tumble inside the box but referee Don Robertson was unimpressed. Home midfielder David Turnbull, just 19, then displayed fine close control before sending an angled drive just over.
Cammy Kerr was shown a yellow card following a tussle with Ryan Bowman, with the Motherwell striker fortunate not to join him in Robertson’s notebook.
Dundee’s fans appealed again when Kenny Miller threw himself to the turf under pressure from Richard Tait but the officials remained unmoved. Bowman was eventually booked for a challenge on O’Dea, which left the former Celt requiring treatment.
Carl McHugh was inches away from giving the home side the lead in first-half stoppage time with a shot from the edge of the penalty area which shaved the outside of Hamilton’s left-hand post but, in truth, this was turgid stuff.
After the restart Motherwell had a penalty appeal of their own rejected when O’Dea appeared to click Curtis Main’s heels and the defender then needed Hamilton to bail him out when he deflected a cross from the striker goalwards.
Bowman should have opened the scoring in the 58th minute but the burly target man, just six yards out, nodded Chris Cadden’s cross wide of the far post when a goal appeared to be the inevitable outcome.
Fortunately for the long-suffering Fir Park support, the deadlock was broken in some style, with Turnbull — who had been, by some distance, the best player on the park — gathered the ball 30 yards out and unleashed an Exocet of a shot which rendered Hamilton a spectator as it sped past him.
Cadden should have secured the points four minutes from the end when he was played in by Liam Grimshaw but, with only Hamilton to beat, his shot sailed harmlessly over the bar.
Dundee centre-half Andy Boyle left the field on a stretcher during stoppage time following a challenge from home sub Allan Campbell. It summed up Dundee’s afternoon.
‘There were a lot more positives,” said McIntyre. ‘That was a lot more like I want us to play. The fight they showed does give me hope.
‘It’s going to take them time to get used to what I expect. But we need to start picking up results, as we don’t want to get detached.’