’Well leave it late to seal Palmerston win
Steve Robinson was delighted to see his Motherwell side edge their way through their first challenge of the season with a 3-0 win over Championship outfit Queen of the South at Palmerston.
And though it took two goals in the final two minutes to ensure the Steelmen’s passage, he said: “We knew it was going to be a tricky game for us on a really difficult surface but we eventually settled and showed some good pace.
“The two goals at the end were excellent, but I felt we had loads of control in the game and could have scored more earlier when Queen of the South were getting tired.”
Robinson had given the message to his players to “hit the ground running” and take the game to the Championship side on their astroturf pitch and they had done just that, despite Chistopher Long crashing down in the opening raid after taking a ball in the face and having to be replaced.
The visitors should have made the breakthrough when substitute James Scott burst through on his own, only to see the Dumfries side’s new keeper Robby Mccrorie turn his shot away from point-blank range.
The Doonhamers weathered the early attacks and were unlucky when Connor Murray had an effort which was cleared off the line before newcomer Dan Pybus clipped a shot over the bar and Stephen Dobbie forced keeper Mark Gillespie into a diving save.
In fact, the Premiership side didn’t look too happy at times under the probing attacks of the hosts.
’Well looked a little fresher after the break and Scott was again the man who threatened with an angular drive which went just past.
Then Charles Dunne saw an effort rebound off the bar with Liam Donnelly seeing the follow up headed over the top.
Motherwell had certainly taken command and Queens defenders were just hanging on under pressure as they survived corner after corner.
However, they conceded a penalty in 70 minutes when substitute Jermaine Hylton was brought down on the edge of the box and Donnelly gave the Queens keeper no chance with a strong shot into the corner.
It was then just a case of the Premiership side strolling their way to the end with substitute Sherwin Seedorf cracking home an angular drive just before the whistle and Hylton also netting in the dying seconds.
Queen of the South manager Allan Johnston rued the chances his team missed.
He said: “I thought we competed for large periods of the game and we had three good chances to score in the first half . However, if you don’t take your chances against teams like Motherwell they are going to come back and haunt you, which they did.
“We also had a shout for a penalty in the first half and it wasn’t given.
“Looking forward, we still have players to bring in.”