The Steelboys! Robbo stands by young stars
Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson believes his kids are all right despite failing to make it three wins in a row.
The Steelmen did everything but score against Hibs and the Irishman was delighted with the performances of his up-and-coming stars.
He said: “We dominated the game without having that final touch.
“Some of our build-up play was terrific and you have to look at the age of our squad.
“To dominate the game against a team of Hibs’ quality means our boys deserve a lot of plaudits.
“Sometimes the performance you put in doesn’t end with the result you deserve, but I can’t be critical of the team after the week we’ve had.
“We went through in the Scottish Cup, took three points at Aberdeen and then produced a really dominant performance at home.”
The home side were without the attacking talents of Chris Long and Jermaine Hylton because of injury and illness. They were replaced by 20-year-old attacker Ross McIver and Christian Ilic, restored to the squad after missing four months with a hamstring injury.
McIver is a player the Steelmen have high hopes for and teenager James Scott continues to impress.
Robinson went on: “You have got to remember James has just turned 19, Ross was making his first start, Allan Campbell is 21. We had kids in the team.
“We brought on Christy Manzinga for his second game and Mikael Ndjoli, a kid who’s on loan. If they were already at the top level they wouldn’t be at Motherwell.
“Watching the game in the stand we had Louis Moult, Cedric Kipre and Marvin Johnson. We develop players and sell them on. I would have loved Moulty out there, we would have won 1-0.”
Robinson’s young men may still be a little raw, but they’re committed to attacking and never give up. They were almost completely dominant during the first half, with Hibs content to sit back and attack on the break.
There was some fierce tackling in the midfield and visiting manager Jack Ross was shown a yellow card for bending the ear of fourth official John Beaton.
The home fans must have feared they might be the subject of a mugging because the Edinburgh side did create the odd chance. It nearly happened when Mark Gillespie parried a shot from Daryl Horgan and a Florian Kamberi header came off the post from a Martin Boyle cross.
Neither manager was able to change the pattern of proceedings as time wore on.
The introduction of Christy Manzinga offered hope of something different for the home fans. He came close to scoring with a powerful shot that was superbly tipped on to the bar by Marciano.
Robinson, like most in the Fir Park crowd, was sure the effort was net-bound.
He said: “I was running down the touchline but credit to their goalkeeper, it was an incredible save.
“Christy came in and did himself no harm at all.
“He needs consistency, I have no idea if I’m going to get a nine out of ten or a one when I put him on the pitch.
“There’s definitely potential there.”
Motherwell are also performing well at the back and goalkeeper Gillespie recorded his 15th clean sheet of the season.
It’s another major reason why the Lanarkshire club are holding on to third spot in Premiership and dreaming of a place in Europe.