Motherwell help drag Saints into basement battle
HERE was confirmation that Motherwell will influence the relegation narrative without being one of the protagonists.
Graham Alexander’s side had already looked to have done enough before the split to not have to worry about the murky business unfolded below them in the table, but this hardfought victory over St Mirren all but guarantees that.
Motherwell’s 11-point lead over Hamilton Accies with just four games remaining all but spares them the prospect of automatic relegation, while it would take an unlikely sequence of events for them to fall into the play-off place.
The win, then, allows them to look up the table with seventh not beyond them should they continue to dig out results like they did here.
“I know the league says we are 11 clear of Hamilton but our ambition is to take as many points as we can in the last four games and finish as high as we can.
“That’s a big win for our tally and results elsewhere have been reasonably good, but I don’t want that to impact our approach in our next games.
“We have to commit to every game and make sure we take more points. Staying up was the first target but our effort and commitment shouldn’t stop there so we will keep our foot to the floor.”
St Mirren also have designs on seventh making this something of a setback. They were the better side here for long spells but missed chances – so often their Achilles heel – proved costly again. A missed first-half penalty summed up their afternoon and perhaps also their season.
“I’m scratching my head a little bit trying to work out how we’ve lost that game,” said manager Jim Goodwin.
“I thought for the majority of it the players were excellent. They’ve completely dominated the game in terms of possession – we must have had about 70 per cent of the ball. But the afternoon sums up our season.”
St Mirren looked in the mood to enhance their chances of finishing best of the bottom half by creating – but spurning – a number of good chances. The chief sinner on this occasion was Jamie McGrath whose calmness of thought deserted him for once as he latched on to Lee Erwin’s adroit flick but fluffed his finish.
Eight times this season he has stepped forward whenever St Mirren have been awarded a penalty and eight times he has scored. This, then, would be ninth time unlucky as Liam Kelly guessed the correct way to keep out McGrath’s strike. Alexander later revealed he has begun talks with Kelly’s parent club QPR with a view to retaining the goalkeeper beyond the summer.
The visitors had been awarded that penalty decision after Stephen O’Donnell clumsily clattered into Dylan Connolly, just three minutes after they ought to have had another.
Ilkay Durmus’ cross struck the outstretched arm of Robbie Crawford but referee Kevin Clancy indicated that he felt the ball had struck the Motherwell player’s chest.
Ryan Flynn didn’t return for St Mirren after pulling his hamstring late in the first period, while Jordan Roberts departed on a stretcher early in the second half after Marcus Fraser appeared to land on his ankle.
Motherwell’s good fortune turned, however, after 62 minutes when they moved in front. Long’s shot was blocked by Alnwick but bounced against the lurking Cole and trundled over the line. The home side could have extended their advantage only for Alnwick to make a smart save from Allan Campbell before St Mirren substitute Cammy MacPherson came within inches of an equaliser but squeezed his header wide.