Fourmidable Well pile yet more agony on suffering Saints
MOTHERWELL:
(4-1-2-3) Gillespie 6; Grimshaw 5, Hartley 7, Gallagher 6, Carroll 6; Donnelly 6; Campbell 7, Polworth 8 (O’Hara 78 4); Long 7 (Scott 62 4), Cole 6, Hylton 7 (Manzinga 76 4). Unused subs – Carson, Tait, Seedorf, Mugabi.
ST JOHNSTONE:
(4-4-2) Clark 6; Ralston 5, Duffy 5 (Vihmann 81 3), Kerr 5, Tanser 6; Kennedy 5, Holt 3, McCann 4, Wotherspoon 5 (Wright 68); Kane 4, May 4 (O’Halloran 68). Unused subs – Parish, Swanson, Booth, Craig.
MOTHERWELL 4
Cole (29), Hartley (49), Carroll (72), Manzinga (89)
ST JOHNSTONE 0
Suffering Saints remain at the foot of the table after their latest dismal display on the road saw them pummelled into submission by a far superior Motherwell side.
Manager Tommy Wright has worked wonders for years at McDiarmid Park but their form this season has been nothing short of shocking and unless they pick it up soon – and reasons for optimism have been few and far between – their best bet for next May will be to avoid automatic relegation and claim a play-off place.
Once again they brought nothing to the party here – toothless up front, guileless in midfield and clueless at the back.
Motherwell, meanwhile, moved three points clear of Kilmarnock in fourth place.
“It was a good day at the office, the complete opposite of what we had last week when we lost 3-1 at Hibs,” said manager Stephen Robinson.
“Then, we were very good on the ball between the two 18-yard boxes but we didn’t defend particularly well and we weren’t ruthless enough.
“This week our defending was very good when it had to be – Jake Carroll and Mark O’Hara made some great headers at the end to keep the clean sheet – and we took our chances when they came.
“We’ve played a lot better than that, though. We were very flat today – the whole place was flat. There’s been an illness passing through the squad – a sickness bug and a cold, a mixture of both.
“Some of the lads said afterwards that they’d felt under the weather and you could see that in our lack of sharpness and our decision-making.
“St Johnstone are a hard team to break down but we were as ruthless against them as Hibs were against us.”
It took 25 minutes before either side managed a decent effort on goal, with the home side’s Chris Long firing an angled drive inches away from Saints goalkeeper Zander Clark’s left-hand post.
Well winger Jermaine Hylton then came close with a low 20-yarder which whistled just past on the opposite side as Robinson’s men ramped up the pressure.
That paid off when Motherwell made the breakthrough just before the half-hour. A sweeping move started by skipper Peter Hartley and Chris Long ended with Jermaine Hylton delivering a cross which Devante Cole met at the far post, bulleting a header behind Clark.
Hartley was denied on the stroke of half-time when he was left unattended at a Liam Polworth corner only to see his header cleared off the line by Scott Tanser.
Saints clearly didn’t learn their lesson, however, because they made the same mistake four minutes into the second period and, this time, they found themselves two goals down. Polworth flighted over another inviting delivery and Motherwell’s tallest player had to stoop to power his header home from eight yards.
Cole should have added a third on the hour when Hylton’s lay-off sent him clear but scuffed his shot wide from the penalty spot.
That could have been a costly miss if Matt Kennedy hadn’t passed up Saints’ best chance at the other end, firing into the side netting.
Well extended their lead when Declan Gallagher’s header came back off a post and Carroll hit home the rebound.
They continued to boss proceedings and completed the scoring in the final minute, with all three substitutes combining for the fourth. Mark O’Hara nodded down a James Scott cross for Christy Manzinga who placed the ball low behind Clark.