SICKLY MOTHERWELL TROUNCE SAINTS FOR THE PERFECT PICK-ME-UP
WITH an icy chill in the air and temperatures troubling the appendages of the proverbial brass monkey, there was always likely to be a few coughs and sniffles at Fir Park yesterday.
Not only among those braving the elements in the stands, but also among the home players out on the pitch.
Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson revealed that a sickness bug had ripped through his squad prior to this comprehensive dismantling of St Johnstone.
Not that you would have known it from the final scoreline, as goals from Devante Cole, Peter Hartley, Jake Carroll and Christy Manzinga saw the home side cruise to their biggest league victory of the season.
It was the perfect response from Robinson’s men following defeats in successive games against Celtic and Hibernian in their previous two outings.
Bouncing back in emphatic style, this result cemented Motherwell’s place in fourth spot in the Premiership table.
Indeed, it was Saints who were forced to take their medicine after failing to build on a positive start to the match.
The crushing defeat leaves Tommy Wright’s men rooted to the bottom of the table, with no obvious sign of respite on the horizon.
‘There’s a bit of an illness going round the squad,’ said Robinson. ‘We weren’t at our best but we still controlled the game. So it’s really pleasing when you know you can play better than that and still win.
‘There’s been a sickness bug and a cold going about. A few of the boys felt a bit under the weather. You could see that in our sharpness and decision-making.
‘It was a strange game as we’ve played a lot better than that. I thought the whole day was flat. The crowd was flat and we were flat.
‘But we were ruthless the way Hibs were against us last week. Maybe 4-0 flatters us a bit but we were well in control of the game.’
St Johnstone were the better side during the early
stages, pouncing on Motherwell’s slack passing time and again in midfield.
David Wotherspoon was lively on the left flank and looked the most creative outlet for Saints. From his cross on four minutes,
Chris Kane rose well but his header lacked enough purchase to trouble home goalkeeper Mark Gillespie.
There was a strange hesitancy to Motherwell. They lacked any sort of tempo to their play and their nervousness soon started to feed into the crowd.
It took them until the 25th minute to muster any sort of meaningful attack, with Chris Long firing a shot low and just wide of Zander Clark’s right-hand post.
But that proved to be the spark which the home side desperately needed and they duly went on to take the lead just four minutes later.
Jermaine Hylton was the architect out wide on the left, twisting and turning away from Saints’ on-loan Celtic right-back Anthony Ralston.
Having cleverly engineered a yard of space, Hylton dinked a cross over to the back post for Cole to come charging in and head home.
Saints could only rue their failure to capitalise on what had been a sprightly start to the match. On this evidence, it will be a long winter for the men from Perth in their battle to steer clear of relegation trouble.
They lack any sort of cutting edge. Their front two yesterday — Kane and Stevie May — have managed just two league goals between them in a combined 19 appearances so far this term.
After their sluggish start, Motherwell took a 1-0 lead down the tunnel at half-time — before doubling their advantage in brisk fashion after the restart.
If Ralston could have done better for the first goal, then the same applied for the second as he allowed Hylton space to run at him and win a corner kick on 49 minutes.
From Liam Polworth’s delivery, Motherwell skipper Hartley met the ball flush to cushion a header beyond Clark and a clutch of Saints defenders inside the six-yard area.
Saints flickered into life and had a couple of efforts through Matty Kennedy and Ali McCann, but Motherwell killed off any notion of a comeback on 72 minutes.
From another Polworth corner, Declan Gallagher almost made it a hat-trick of headers for the home side, only to see his effort rebound back off the post.
Carroll pounced on the leftovers, though, and thumped home to remove any lingering doubt about the final outcome.
Manzinga then notched a goal on his debut after latching on to Mark O’Hara’s knockdown and cooly slotting past Clark to add an extra layer of gloss to the final scoreline.
‘Some of the mistakes we made were so poor,’ said a deflated Saints boss Wright. ‘I can’t defend it. Motherwell won’t score four easier goals all season.’