Motherwell make light work of putting pitiful Partick to bed
IT IS only fair to deal with the positives first and praise Motherwell for a comprehensive and deserved victory. They won through goals from Peter Hartley, Craig Tanner and Ryan Bowman — and could have won by more.
Now for the bit which will be of concern to the Partick Thistle supporters. Their team played very poorly yesterday. The first touch from most players was sloppy. They were hesitant inside the box.
Motherwell goalkeeper Trevor Carson did not have a save of note to make in the entire 90 minutes.
Overall, the Jags players appeared lackadaisical, which is most unlike any Alan Archibald team.
This was their eighth league game of the season and they have yet to record a victory. They are joint bottom of the table with three points. It hasn’t been good enough.
Archibald cannot allow any more performances such as this one. He doesn’t carry a big squad. But, for his own sake, he cannot continue selecting players who are not going to give their all for him and the club. He has to be ruthless.
He has the period during this international break to work with the players and assess if they are up for the fight. He is a talented manager and the smart money should be on him getting Thistle clear of danger and towards the top six.
Archibald said: ‘We are obviously disappointed with the manner in which we lost the game. We didn’t deal with the second balls and the ugly side of the game.
‘With about 30 minutes to go, I felt there was a bit of an acceptance from the players. We haven’t seen that since the first game of the season and that’s disappointing.
‘The next few games are huge. The lads will be in over the break. We need to work hard to get a result.’
Jubilant Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson praised the contribution of central defender Hartley, who opened the scoring early on.
‘I’ve seen Peter from when I worked down in England and he was a massive signing or me,’ said Robinson. ‘Before his arrival we maybe lacked a vocal presence at the back and he has added that. He organises and pulls players into line. He is also good in the dressing room.
‘We pride ourselves on clean sheets and that’s another one today. We have players willing to put their bodies on the line. We were well worthy of the win.’
There was controversy in the opening spell when Tomas Cerny and Bowman chased a 50-50 ball at the edge of the Thistle box. Bowman beat the Jags keeper to it and was brought down.
Referee Greg Aitken produced a yellow card but many in the stadium felt a red card was more appropriate.
From the free-kick, Louis Moult struck his shot with real force over the wall and it rebounded off Cerny’s right-hand post. The ball rolled along the six-yard box and Hartley was quickest to react, prodding the ball over the line.
Motherwell doubled their lead early in the second half when Richard Tait crossed into the path of Tanner, who fired past Cerny from 12 yards.
With eight minutes remaining, Bowman rifled a shot high into Cerny’s top left-hand corner.
Motherwell are in fine form but Thistle are edging towards a serious situation and they will not arrest their decline with more performances like this one.