The view from the stands

While manager Stephen Robinson might not have admitted it publicly, this was an important win for Motherwell.

After two opening league defeats, a loss to newly promoted Livingston would have been more difficult to defend, particularly with Rangers coming to Fir Park on Sunday.

If they had lost that two, no points from their first three games and going out of the League Cup could have proven to be tough to turn around.

And it could have been a different tale had Livi opened the scoring within the first minute when Lawless cracked one off the crossbar.

Thankfully for‘well they didn’t have to fight back from an early goal and in the end were well worth the win.

There have been calls for Danny Johnson to get a chance from the start, and the lively forward linked up superbly with Curtis Main throught the match. While Main hasn’t quite found his form yet this season, the balance between the two Englishmen looked much a more promising partnership than Main and Sammon provided against Hamilton.

At the back Peter Hartley put in an inspired all-round performance.the armband certainly seems to be agreeing with him and credit must also go to Carl Mchugh who continues to lead from the back even without the captaincy.

The Rangers game will be a good test to see how far the squad has progressed, but at least for‘well they go into the game with momentum after a fine win.