‘Well boss revels in working old pal
Andy McGilvray at Fir Park
Motherwell boss Graham Alexander says the proof his side deserved their victory over Hearts was in the hard graft his old Scotland team-mate Craig Gordon had to do.
The Steelmen bagged back-to-back league wins by putting 10-man Hearts to the sword thanks to goals from Connor Shields and Ricki Lamie.
Alexander insists his side have worked hard since their 6-1 mauling at the hands of Rangers, with wins over Aberdeen and Hearts since.
And watching Gordon pull off wonder saves just to keep the score down, proved to Alexander his side were worthy winners.
He said: “We had numerous chances all game and I played with Craig Gordon, he’s an unbelievable goalkeeper, so it was great to see him work so hard and to see that we could beat him twice as well.
“If we hadn’t have won that game we’d have been disappointed, because the performance merited it.
“I don’t think anyone could complain about the result, it was a brilliant performance from the squad again.
“It’s great to see them confident about what we’ve tried to put in place in the last three weeks after the Rangers game, but it’s them who go over the white line and produce performances like that. “I’m really proud of them again.
“It was a good performance but it has to start with how hard to beat we are and how we limit the opposition to what they get out of us. We know we’ve got creators and goalscorers in the team and we showed that.”
Connor Shields’ first ever goal for Motherwell gave them the lead before the interval, with Ricki Lamie doubling the lead from Sean Goss’ free-kick immediately after Hearts’ Taylor Moore had been shown a second yellow card for a foul on Tony Watt.
‘Well took the lead in 23 minutes when Kaiyne Woolery’s cross from the right was mis-hit by Watt, but Shields reacted to smash the ball past Gordon from eight yards.
The Fir Park men could have added to that lead, with Barry Maguire forcing a fine block from Gordon, before Watt saw a shot well blocked inside the sixyard box from a Woolery set-up.
Alexander added: “We know we can give people a really tough game, we’ve shown that in the last two games.
“There is still room for improvement. What I know from my players is that they will always commit to their work and do their best.”
Meanwhile, Alexander revealed goal hero Shields came to him a few weeks ago and asked to go out on loan so he could get games, which he flatly refused to sanction.
He added: “It was a big one for
Connor. We had a conversation a few weeks ago when he was maybe looking to possibly go out on loan, but I told him he was going nowhere – he will score goals for us in the Premiership, without a shadow of a doubt.
“I thought his performances a couple of weeks ago were very good and he was unfortunate to come out of the team, but we know what he gives us, with his work ethic, his pace, and he’s a genuine goal-scorer, so hopefully he will build on that.
“He could have had another one, with Craig Gordon making an unbelievable save from his volley, but I thought he worried them all afternoon.”