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Welcome back Stephen.

Glentoran will be coming into their first tie here with a good bit of momentum, but will also be lacking their star guys from last term. They won the Irish Cup two Fridays ago, after extra time, and less than 24 hours later, they sold Navid Nasseri, arguably their best fit player, to Linfield. Hrvoje Plum was a standout for them from August til January, pinging in free-kicks and worldies all over the shop until he injured himself trying to do a Larne player in at the turn of the year. Hasn't played since. No coincidence that their Irish League title challenge tailed off after that, as Plum had been pulling the strings towards it. Patrick McClean, brother of James, has put in some shift for them, scored a belter of an overhead kick in the earlier Irish Cup rounds and was a real driving force in the semi and final. Robbie McDaid is also a tricky wee player up front for them, while Elliot Morris is still a top goalie at Irish League level, despite his age. Manager Mick McDermott has instilled a good ethos in their dressing room and on the pitch, something they've badly lacked in the 6 years I've been over here and taking an interest in the local football. Like with almost all Irish League clubs, the Glens are a part time team, so by virtue of that, our fitness should be miles ahead. Both the semi and final went to extra time for them and after about 70 minutes in both games, Glentoran, Cliftonville and Ballymena were all blowing out their arses. If they manage to get past HB, then we should be able to see them off, although if Plum and Nasseri were still options for them, I'd maybe be a bit warier of them.

It's a true achievement because we actually accrued more points than any other team and that got us to third place. We took 4 points from 6 in the games before the and were denied the opportunity to extend our lead in third place over the team in fourth when the league was stopped. The supposition that we would have dropped out of the top six is no more or less valid than the supposition that we might have tonked Aberdeen 3-0 again and ended up eight points clear in third by the end of the season. Again it comes back to whatever context you want to place it in.

I was going to reply making a similar point but you have made it far better than I could. The beauty of undermining the current Spfl teams is that before a ball is kicked anything short of a 2nd place finish or a Cup Final victory renders any other success in the season short off this as failure. Must be hard to know as a Motherwell manager that before a ball is kicked, a 3rd place finish is not going to cut it with a minority of the support.

Yeah but in 1994 we also went toe-to-toe with Borussia Dortmund. I sometimes watch that game on youtube and get annoyed at how close we came over there.

We certainly haven't looked sharp in front of goals, but we've been fit enough to dominate for long spells in both games.

We shall destroy any of those pair of teams come on ladies and gents!Lost 2 first league games,not looked like scoring,don't look fit,can't take a throw in,can't take corners and don't look the best what's not to worry about!

... said Kilmarnock last year re Connah’s Quay Nomads!

We'll absolutely scud Glentoran ffs

Home to Glentoran or HB Torshavn

Let's say for arguments sake that the season had lasted from Jan 19 to the finish in March 20. Motherwell would have still finished third in that case. They proved to be the 3rd best team for over a year. Belt and braces, 3rd best in the league. Something to celebrate. That the context should be that the achievement be judged on the games that had still to be played (and we will never know the result of) suggests to me that a certain spin is being applied to the context. I understand that in a certain context (there it is again) one win in eleven would indeed end in sacking and in modern football more often than not, managers do get sacked but I think it is something for Well fans to celebrate that our board tend to buck that trend and back their man. It also comes after a 3rd place finish which in any context is an achievement for a team like ours. We have been here before during the sticky spell in the second half of 2018, with some of the support wanting Robinson sacked then. His team then went on a great run in 2019. I know that again some will say that was luck but to be lucky over a 12-14 month period stretches that argument a little. You might be right this time. The poor run may continue but only two games into a new season I think he has earned the right for us to back him. I think he will turn it round again but I am one of those happy clappers.

Thats just nonsense tho. Maybe Im reading it wrong, but all thats being asked for is for our "third" place finish to be held in context. Its nothing like previous years when teams were rebuilding etc because we never played a full seasons matches, we literally stopped with almost a quarter of fixtures still to play! When the season was ending we were in serious danger of being the only team in the history of the SPL to make it to 40+ points and NOT make the top 6, such was the utter cunt we were making of things. Last years 3rd place finish is an achievement on paper, but in reality more of a technicality than true achievement. We werent 15 points clear like Celtic, we had won 1 match in 8 and were hanging on to our place in the top 6 for grim death. We got lucky, Il take that! What last seasons final league position shouldnt be, is something thats used to paper over the cracks that are very evident this season! We are on a retched run, the Managers recruitment looks awful....... again........ we look unfit and disorganised at the start of a season......... again. And now he is clutching at straws claiming we have a "young team" when there are more 28-32 year olds in it than 21 year olds, thats bollocks thrown out to deflect from the fact that the Manager has made a rip roaring cunt of our pre season. As I said in a previous post, any other manager in world football would be under serious pressure to deliver after 1 win in 11, but ours isnt. We all know that on wed night, Hastie will be back at right wing, Grimshaw will be at RB, Long will be back as TM and Watt will be back on the bench, to come on late probably on the wing, and we will yet again be known as Motherwell Nil. Only hope is Livvy are equally shite so we can scrape a draw

Aye, but he was talking about the opposition winger, not the ball.

I think at times the minute a player leaves us he seems to talked up. The amount of stick that Hartley and Tait took for been to slow, past it, agricultural and suddenly they should have been retained. Tait was actually offered an improved contract and turned it down. The club took pelters for not offering Hastie a new contract after half a dozen good displays and chose to see if it was just a flash in the pan, the sensible approach for a club on a limited budget. He’s now back and after two games taking stick, the club don’t look so daft now. I just find the lack of patience amazing at times, the grass is rarely if ever greener on the other side. We finished third last season and that’s now played down as only happening because everyone else was so poor, surely in that case every other manager should be at risk ? Just about every club will have a poor run of form and without doubt we are on a bad run which started towards the end of last season but just give it time to turn around, it will as it always has under Robinson. He’s made mistakes in the past and will in the future but overall he’s done a very decent job.