Ya Bezzer!

Thought he could have put on Leitch for Carswell after he was booked. We have three games in 10 days so it didn't do any harm to take off Faddy with the game won.

We deserved to win but the game never really sparked tonight. The opening spell I thought Inverness where the better team, we looked sleepy and our passing was poor, while Inverness looked pacy and full of running. That was the way it was until we scored the first goal, a brilliant ball from Stevie Hammell to Ainsworth that turned a nothing situation into a goal. The second goal soon after knocked the stuffing out of Inverness and although they had periods where they dominated for a while they never really looked like causing us too many problems. If they had scored one of the two glaring chances just after half time it might have been different but they didn't and it wasn't. We picked up after the first goal and played some decent football but it never had much edge and we played a bit like a team that knew they were in a comfortable lead. Apart from the two goals I don't remember either keeper having to make any saves of real note, it was one of those matches when everything was going wide and high. Not a great or terrible performance but a good win that was an important one to win. I think we could have gone up a few gears tonight if we'd really had to. The thing I was most nervous about was Carswell being on a yellow.

A broken finger is probably not his fault but I'm beginning to lose patience with Lee Hollis. He's almost permanently injured. Even when he wasn't first choice he missed a lot of matches - he's not been available for 33 league matches over the last 3 seasons. Contrast with Darren Randolph who hardly missed a game season after season. He hasn't done much wrong performance wise for me but we need a first choice goalkeeper who is more reliable in terms of actually playing.

In the last seven matches Inverness have either kept a clean sheet (five times) or conceded 5 goals (twice).

Any coincidence that our league performances have got better and better the more experience the team has had in Europe? Players get better playing at that level and we have guys in our team now who have 10 - 15 matches of European football. European and international football experience is hugely beneficial for players so if we want to do well at league level the more guys we have with that sort of experience the better. Even if there are slight financial penalties for drawing a far flung team I think in terms of football it's very beneficial.

We'd never had one striker score 20 goals in my time supporting the team so to have two in successive seasons would be incredible. Sutton is currently on 48 league goals for us so it's entirely possible he can get into the 50's this season and then over take Stevie Kirk next season, who on 63 league goals who is our highest scorer during our Premier League run from 1985. The guys ahead of him are 1. Stevie Kirk 63, 2. Tommy Coyne 59, 3. Dougie Arnott 59, 4. David Clarkson 49.

Hopefully they defend the same way they did against Dundee Utd.

Wasn't there but clearly conceding a goal in the 43rd minute at 2-0 up changes the match completely. I think we need to look on the positives for this one. We've played Hibs and Hearts in successive weeks, taken 4 points, scored 7 goals and all the while with a lot of players injured and a few inexperienced boys in the team. Rather than anything else these two last results say to me that we can still pick up points playing youngsters and that's a big positive. Conceding 3 goals in five of our last seven matches needs to be looked at but I can't comment on the goals we lost today since I wasn't there. Three home matches coming up and those 9 points will be very important come the end of the season. Given that Inverness have a couple of games in hand a win would be a big result in that one.

Should have put money on it.

Just 6 matches since Dan was between the sticks keeping clean sheets galore! That's kinda why I said we can't say it will be a push over even though Hibs have only won once in 7. They only picked up 2 points against Kilmarnock, Dundee Utd and St. Mirren for instance but they scored 5 goals across those matches (1-2-2). In their four wins since December they also scored at least twice. Need to be careful, I'd suggest.

Hibs have conceded at least 1 goal in their last 8 matches. At the very least we should score but Hibs have also scored a few goals since Butcher took over so I don't think we can say it's going to be a push over based on form. Might be one of those ones where you stick it down as a 3 goals or more at the bookies.

McFadden and Vigurs were the stand out players. The little reverse pass Vigurs hit to Angol in the corner was sheer class and with an excellent display, an assist and a goal he can consider himself unlucky not to get a vote from me. However McFadden edges it, his best display of the season and hopefully he can kick on from here.

Aye, I had it as 3-0 on my Hearts stats and 4-0 on my Kilmarnock stats. Glad you pointed it out! Here's one I'm pretty sure is right. John Sutton is 4 goals away from his 50th league goal for Motherwell. Would be nice if he could hit that landmark before the end of the season. Only three other players have done it in our top league run since the mid eighties - Kirk, Arnott and Coyne.

Maybe but it was still their biggest league defeat of the season.

Forget about their ages or the length of time they have had at the club, both Hammell and Lasley both deserve contracts on merit. If Hutchinson leaves which seems likely re-signing McManus should be a priority. The decision on McFadden will surely come down to money. If he's realistic about his remuneration I'd be happy to see him re-sign but his performances this season haven't been good enough to justify a big bucks contract. I think he still has worth as a player though as he showed today. I'd like to see Kello in goals next season if possible but Hollis hasn't done much wrong and again if he wants to battle for first place I'd be happy to re-sign him. Agree with those that Nielsen, Lawson and McHugh need to move on.

Pretty easy victory today after a ropey opening 10 minutes or so where we hardly had any ball. Some good performances from McFadden and Vigurs who showed great touch and skill. Thought Craig Reid on his first showing looked a decent addition and he worked well with Ainsworth up the right. You can say what you like about Ainsworth's flaws but he doesn't half strike the ball well and it was a cracking goal from him. It was also good to see some of the young chaps getting a chance hopefully it wasn't a one off.

If you look at probably two of the last players to really make the grade from our youth team - Jamie Murphy and Stuart Carswell - I don't think either really burst on to the scene and set the heather on fire. Jamie Murphy took a couple of seasons to bed in and had a lot of substitute appearances at the start of his career and I myself didn't really rate Carswell until the latter half of last season. Now, although he's technically limited, I think he's deservedly held his place in the team at the expense of a more experienced pro. You can't expect young players making the step up to immediately to make the grade, some times it takes time and patience and most importantly the opportunity to get first team experience on a semi regular basis.

Vigurs was at the centre of everything during the spell when we were playing the best football of the campaign. As far as I'm concerned he has a future at Fir Park and we need to get more of the same out of him if we want to have a good end to the season. Two or three weeks ago when I last looked Vigurs had the most assists of any player in the league so if people can't see what he provides to the team they need to look a bit closer. The Lawson signing hasn't worked out and Ainsworth is better going forward, has better delivery and is much more of a goal threat than Humphrey ever was while being much, much worse than Humphrey, and probably every other player in the league, on the defensive side of things. With Ainsworth you takes your chances as they say...

Agree with the first part but disagree with the second part.

I don't really agree with this. A winning team is exactly the environment for young players to be introduced. You don't throw them in when you are in a mire. Aberdeen had four youth products in the side at the weekend, most of whom are regulars - Andrew Considine, Joe Shaughnessy, Peter Pawlett and Nicky Low. Ryan Jack would have almost certainly played if he hadn't been injured to make it five. They have also given game time to Clark Robertson 4+3, Cammy Smith 5+3, Craig Storie 0+1 and Craig Murray 0+2 this season to add four more players to the five who have been regulars and they have a couple of other young players than haven't played this season but have first team experience (Jamie Masson, Declan McManus). We have lost superb opportunities to blood young players over the past couple of seasons and I fear we will count the cost in the future.

I omitted Cummins but deliberately so as he had already played first team football before McCall was appointed. I also removed Meechan and Pollock from the list as they also fell into that category.

Here are the players from our youth system that Stuart McCall has introduced and given league game time to since he arrived at the club. start+sub (goal) {total time on pitch} Stuart Carswell 45+29 Zane Francis-Angol 22+21 (2) Fraser Kerr 14+11 Craig Moore 2+7 (1) Steve Hetherington 1+2 Gary Smith 0+2 {45 minutes total} Ross Stewart 0+1 {injury time} Euan Murray 0+1 {26 minutes total} Jack Leitch 0+1 {injury time} Dale Shirkie 0+1 {10 minutes total} In my view giving significant game time to three youth players in three seasons is not good enough and only one of those players would now consider themselves as a first team choice. The club is posting significant loses and has failed to sell on any players for significant transfer fees for some time. Surely a major reason for this is down to our failure to develop quality youth players? Also, at a time when the club is struggling for money we have to look at the significant amount of money being put into youth development from which we see very little return. Sadly, I feel like our youth system, which has always been very good over the 25 years or so I've been coming to Fir Park, has fallen into a state of stagnation at best and perhaps even complete regression. Stuart McCall as a manager doesn't seem to be willing to give youth a chance and the game time given over to youth products during his tenure has been pitiful. Of course, there is the argument that the players aren't good enough to play for the first team but that simply raises the questions 'Why not?' and 'What's the point of having a youth team then?' This neglect of the youth team under McCall, I believe, will have far reaching consequences unless something is done to address it soon. Years ago a young Celtic supporting Hearts player called James McFadden joined our youth system. Partly because it was less traveling for him, but also because we had a good record of giving young players first team experience and it was attractive for a young talent to come to the club. By attracting McFadden to the club we got one of the best players of the last 30 years, made a million pounds and produced a Scotland international. Today, if there was another young talent like James, would you hand on your heart recommend to him to join Motherwell for the betterment of his career? I think any sensible advice would steer him to Dundee Utd or even Kilmarnock who have taken over our mantle as youth developers. The fewer chances we give to youth, the less likely we are to attract better players, as they will simply join big clubs like Celtic or clubs that provide an opening for youth to get game time. In an age where the only future for a club like ours is to develop our own talent I really feel as if the clubs strategy has become a danger to itself and needs to be addressed.

And if that happens we are depending on young players with hardly any experience and game time. A few weeks ago we were 3-0 up against St. Johnstone at home and who did McCall bring on? Lawson and McFadden. That's when you introduce young players! The same situation happened against Partick Thistle when we were 5-1 with up 25 minutes to go. Bring them into a team high on confidence, that's winning, that has the crowd on it's side and get the young players bedded in that way. You don't wait until you have 9 first team regulars fit and then throw kids in that have no game time or experience into a really tough situation. It really frustrates me.

Said it before the Dundee Utd game but we are running the team into the ground because McCall won't utilise our youth players properly. The team is completely flat, run down and carrying injuries because they get pounded game after game instead of giving a Jack Leitch or a Euan Murray a game here or there when required. Also McCall saying we were aiming to finish Top Six when we had two big games coming up that could put us in 2nd was yet another deflating moment.

Hutchinson has been very poor recently and the full back situation is well known. Also our wide players are dire at getting back to help out the defence, Ainsworth in particular.