ALL’S NOT WELL
Alexander cops flak from fans after Ashcroft sinks slack Steelmen
ONE manager buoyed by a fine exhibition of unity in the face of adversity. The other in danger of seeing his reign destabilised by mutiny from a fanbase clearly unhappy with what they are seeing.
James McPake’s Dundee side thoroughly deserved this victory courtesy of a Lee Ashcroft header with 12 minutes to play and their place in the last eight of the Premier Sports Cup.
It was the perfect fillip in the wake of last weekend’s six-goal hammering in the league at Celtic Park and ended a run of 10 games without a win — with the last eight of those being defeats — against yesterday’s visitors.
Yet, the most surprising element of the afternoon was the response at full-time from a 1,000-strong away support housed in the main stand. It was hard to judge, given the paucity of Motherwell’s overall display during the second half, but the venom seemed to be directed almost exclusively towards manager Graham Alexander.
It reached a crescendo as he walked off the park after bumping fists with the officials. Even when he looked over to the away end and applauded, it went on.
Of course, there was much anger after the loss to Lanarkshire rivals Airdrieonians in the group stage. However, their 3-2 reverse at Hibs and a 1-1 draw away to St Johnstone at the start of the league season did not seem the kind of outcomes that would precipitate this.
He called for patience as he knits a number of new players into the team, but it is clear he had better start getting results soon.
‘The players need that backing, I need that backing, we need that support together,’ said Alexander. ‘But it’s not just one-way.
‘I think we need to give them something as well, which I think we have done in the previous couple of games, and for half a game today, but we don’t extend those periods for long enough to win the game at the moment.
‘This is my first experience with the fans. I’m getting to know everyone, but there’s frustration in the game. They pay for their ticket, they’re entitled to their opinion.
‘You’re not always going to be popular, but I know our abilities as a group will win enough games to make them feel good about themselves at the end of the season.
‘We didn’t do enough to win the game. I thought we were good in the first half without taking the chances, but the longer the game went on, the more we lost our way.’
The early pressure came from Dundee, watched by technical director Gordon Strachan following the announcement of his bizarre consultancy tie-up with Celtic, with Jason Cummings testing Liam Kelly twice in the first quarter of the game with a couple of diagonal shots from the right of the area.
It wasn’t really until the half-hour mark that Motherwell began to show some proper threat in attack. Connor Shields forced Adam Legzdins into a save with a shot from distance and then found himself denied by the crossbar seven minutes before the break.
Shields robbed Ashcroft on the left and sent Stevie Lawless scampering up the flank. He then found Shields on the far of the area with a clever cutback and the striker’s shot smacked off the woodwork before spinning to safety.
Five minutes after the break, though, Dundee came so close to snatching the lead. Ojala failed to deal with a bouncing ball just inside his own half and Cummings nipped in and raced forward.
He picked out McMullan with an excellent crossfield pass and he, in turn, found the onrushing Jordan McGhee inside the area. Credit, then, to Kelly for a point-blank stop.
Kelly sprung to the rescue again with a low save from Charlie Adam, but, just before the hour, it took linesman Stuart Hodge to keep the scoreline blank. Luke McCowan cut inside before finding Cummings at the back post. The ex-Hibs forward duly bundled it in, but turned round to find Hodge’s flag raised.
Dundee had been the side in command over the second half and their winner — which came from the 15th of 17 corners throughout the game — was deserved.
Adam won the flag-kick on the left and McMullan’s flighted ball was met by Ashcroft, who bustled past a couple of opponents with an admirable determination to get to it and head it beyond Kelly.
Yet, the visitors could still have taken it to extra-time. With seven minutes left, Justin Amaluzor found fellow sub Tony Watt unmarked in the area. Watt, however, headed the ball straight at the keeper.
‘When we rewind back a week, we lost six at Celtic, so you talk about character, you talk about resilience, you talk about people in there who will stand up and be counted,’ said McPake. ‘Well, I saw that in the dressing room and that’s what pleased me the most.
‘We had a few tests there. The first one was: how do you bounce back from a real heavy defeat? I think they showed that. Right from the off, we were in their faces.’