Motherwell are still in the hunt
MOTHERWELL kept their faint hopes of a top-six finish alive with a convincing victory over struggling St Johnstone.
In their pursuit of sixth-placed Hibernian, both sides cancelled each other out for the majority of the match at Fir Park. But it was the Steelmen who eventually drew first blood in the 70th minute through a stunning Elliott Frear strike before running away with the match, as David Turnbull and Richard Tait added goals late on.
With Hibs five points ahead of Motherwell, Stephen Robinson’s team must take maximum points from their final two games before the split and hope the Easter Road side fail to beat both Kilmarnock and Hearts.
‘We had to make sure top six was still alive and this is a big result for us,’ said the Motherwell boss. ‘We thoroughly deserved to win the game. All over the pitch, there were some very good performances.’
Motherwell looked dangerous from set-pieces and threatened after nine minutes when Turnbull picked out Tom Aldred with a corner, but the defender’s header clipped the top of the bar on its way over.
Four minutes later, referee Euan Anderson pointed to the spot and awarded St Johnstone a penalty.
Matthew Kennedy had bombed forward down the left wing and whipped in a threatening cross, which Chris Kane was preparing to connect with until he was brought down by Alex Rodriguez Gorrin.
Saints’ regular penalty-taker Liam Craig hit a tame shot towards the corner, gifting Motherwell goalkeeper Mark Gillespie an easy save as he dived to his left.
The visitors were almost made to pay for not taking their chance two minutes later when Turnbull and Aldred combined once again from a corner, but the defender was met with the same outcome as he nodded over from close range.
It took until the second half for there to be another serious effort on goal. St Johnstone’s Sean Goss picked out Murray Davidson with pinpoint accuracy from a free-kick after 52 minutes. Davidson headed the ball down for Kane but the striker leaned back and volleyed high over the bar from eight yards.
In an effort to get his side further up the pitch, Robinson brought on Frear and Chris Cadden — who had been out for over five months with a knee injury — shortly after the hour mark and it worked to perfection.
With 20 minutes to go, Charles Dunne broke forward and slid the ball to Curtis Main. The Fir Park forward spotted the on-running Frear and flicked the ball up for the winger, who calmly brought the ball down and stylishly curled it past Zander Clark at his near post.
St Johnstone came close to snatching an equaliser two minutes later when Kane was picked out on the edge of the six-yard box from a corner, but his acrobatic overhead kick flew narrowly over the bar.
Motherwell captain Tait then almost doubled his side’s lead when he collected the ball 25 yards out and struck a curling effort off the top of the crossbar.
The Steelmen notched their second with ten minutes remaining when Allan Campbell slipped the ball to Turnbull. Motherwell’s young prodigy sold the defender with a dummy to create space for himself, before firing a low shot past the wrong-footed Clark.
Frear then should have secured his brace when he was sent through one-on-one with Clark in the 85th minute, but recovering defenders kept him under pressure and he pulled his shot inches wide.
Tait eventually added a third for the hosts in the first minute of injury time, slipping through the Saints defence thanks to Carl McHugh’s pass and slotting the ball into the bottom corner with a cool finish.
Tommy Wright’s St Johnstone are confined to the bottom six for the second year in a row and he questioned his side’s desire.
‘I think they believe too much of their own hype from earlier in the season,’ said the Saints boss. ‘Top six is important. I have to question how driven some of the players are after that last 20 minutes.’