MOTHERWELL STRIKE FORCE DELIGHT BOSS ALEXANDER

MOTHERWELL’S three-man strike force swept aside Highland League minnows Formartine United and ensured that any remote chance of another seismic Scottish Cup shocker was never on the cards.

Any chance of an upset was over as soon as Christopher Long had given Motherwell the lead in the 34th-minute following a misjudgement by home keeper Kevin Main.

Jordan Roberts made it 2-0 before half-time then made it 3-0 after the break before the Fir Park side’s third striker, Devante Cole added to the tally.

Allan Campbell ended the scoring after a fine move and put a fair reflection on the gulf in class between the teams.

Fir Park boss Graham Alexander was pleased his hitmen had all found the target. He said: ‘The strikers are there to score so it was great to see them all notch today.

‘We know we have a goal threat, but it must be secondary to work ethic and mentality.

‘That was what pleased me most — we showed full respect to the opposition, we didn’t come off the work ethic.

‘Once we got the first goal we took control, scored some good goals and kept a clean sheet.

‘Some players came back into the team and played well. We must now ensure we finish the season consistently and take as many points as we can.

‘We’re just delighted to be in the next round.’

Formartine’s No 2, former Aberdeen star Russell Anderson, said: ‘There’s a bit of frustration at the goals we lost as they didn’t have to work too hard for some of them.

‘I don’t think we showed what we’re capable of but you could argue that was maybe down to them being the better team.

“If we had managed to get in front it might have put a bit of doubt in their minds.’