Well gaffer high-fives mettle of Steelmen
FORMARTINE UTD 0 MOTHERWELL 5 Long (32), Roberts (40, 52), Cole (63), Campbell (76)
Motherwell manager Graham Alexander was pleased to send a small band of supporters home happy after advancing to the last 16 of the Scottish Cup with a 5-0 win against Formartine United.
The Steelmen proved too strong for their Highland League opponents thanks to goals from Christopher Long, Devante Cole, Allan Campbell and a Jordan Roberts brace.
Despite the current ban of fans attending games in Scotland, a group of about 20 supporters managed to get a vantage point to watch the match by scaling walls, buildings and trees adjacent to North Lodge Park.
The noise of fans chanting for his team was music to the ears of the Motherwell boss.
He said: “They were singing our names so we’ll take it.
“If they are from Motherwell we’re delighted they’re going home with smiles on their faces, because we are.”
Alexander added: “Everything we hoped for and expected happened and we’re delighted to be in the next round.
“We started off in good fashion. You could see they were well-organised and hard to break down.
“We had to be patient and work the ball, make sure we didn’t give anything away and hope we got the opening goal.
“They had an opportunity early on, which was disappointing because it can change the direction of the game at 0-0.
“But once we got the first goal we took control, had good attacking play, scored some good goals, kept a clean sheet, some players came back into the team and played well.”
Formartine made a bright start with Jonathan Crawford crossing for Garry Wood but the former Ross County forward’s downward header was well saved by Liam Kelly.
The visitors soon seized control with Roberts sending a powerful drive the wrong side of the post before heading over from a Steven Lawless cross moments later.
The hosts were almost gifted the lead after 21 minutes when the omnipresent Roberts almost headed a Daniel Park free-kick into his own net.
The visitors finally got the goal their dominance merited when Formartine goalkeeper
Kevin Main hesitated coming out to collect a searching pass from Tyler Magloire, which allowed Long to take a touch past the stranded stopper and fire into an unguarded net.
A Lawless cross was flicked wide by Campbell before the Steelmen doubled their advantage when a Nathan McGinley cross fell for Roberts to drill home from 12 yards.
Only seven minutes of the second half had elapsed when the visitors added a third with Roberts stabbing home a wayward shot by Cole with the Formartine appeals for offside falling on deaf ears.
Motherwell were cruising now and grabbed a fourth after 64 minutes when Stephen O’Donnell crossed for Cole to head past Main.
Campbell completed the scoring with 14 minutes remaining when he exchanged passes with Long before drilling the ball beyond Main.
Formartine United assistant manager Russell Anderson was disappointed his side failed to cause Motherwell problems.
He said: “There is a feeling of frustration that they didn’t have to work too hard for some of the goals they scored.
“If we had managed to get to half-time at 0-0 then you would think that the pressure would start to build on them.
“The frustrating part was that I don’t think we showed what we are capable of.”