star sail

I think there is that little bit of pressure on the supporters as well as the players when we turn up to Firpark with the expectation of a win rather than simply the hope of one. I think the pressure of the potentially massive prize on offer did get to everyone and as you say there is possibly a mental tiredness as well as a physical tiredness associated with that. Now that the talk of league titles is over the pressure may ease from everyone a little bit. Having said that, I am not convinced that the league title is completely dead in the water and I don't think the players or manager will have given up all hope either. Beat Falkirk and Hearts and things could suddenly look very interesting again particularly when the OF look less than convincing. It may still work in the teams favour that we have been written out of the title race.

Rangers and Hearts were able to get the job done again today. It would appear that they have just that little bit more about them than we do. The table does not lie although I thought up untill 2 weeks ago that just maybe it did. 50/50 is pessimistic in the extreme. We are 6 points ahead of Hibs with a superior goal difference. Taking the subjectivity out of it, that in no way relates to a 50/50 chance. In the same way that the table does not lie in favour of Hearts/ Rangers/ Celtic, it does not lie in relation to our position either. Falkirk next week is a game we should have some hope of winning. The facts speak for themself in that regard.

On the Scotland squad, I see that Derek Mciness was less diplomatic in his views about the squad than JBA was. Jens knows that Grant Hanley should be nowhere near an International World Cup team so he is being very diplomatic when he choices not to give a view which I think shows the control he has when it comes to things he cannot affect. On tomorrows game, I think we will win. The OF have put a little bit of daylight between us and them over the last few weeks and I think we will do likewise tomorrow with Hibs. You can argue for or against Motherwell being a top 3 side this season but we are definitely a top 4 side and will prove it tomorrow.

Hearts lost. The title challenge is back on!!!

Time to take those green and white glasses off MJC. Getting tired of all your pro Celtic rhetoric!! Step too far today but still much to play for this season. Would still love to beat Hearts at Tynecastle and really put the cat amongst the pigeons. As JBA is always telling us, celebrate the performance not the result. It is miles better than we have been used to for some time.

A points deduction for both sides would do nicely. Leave us fighting it out with Hearts for the title. Will never happen but it might actually be the only thing that would stop fans from jumping on the pitch. Not going to get holier than thou about it right enough given that our own fans have previous for this in the play off's.

It would be interesting to see what would happen if Motherwell won the league with the best defensive record in the country regarding the Scotland World Cup squad. It is possible this could happen with no Well players in the Scotland team.

Absolutely superb if that is accurate.

Playacting will be rife as it is every other week as will the other dark arts of wasting time, clipping ankles jersey pulling etc etc. ( I know that is exactly the point you are making). I think the problem with Slattery's incident is that it was so blatant and so completely unnecessary on every possible level. The biggest danger is that now Slattery is the boy that cried wolf so I would think Jim Goodwin will be telling his players that they have a couple of free hits on Slattery today should he play. The refs are going to be very wary every time Slattery goes down. It was an unbelievably mindless thing to do last weekend and he has shot himself in the foot.

I noticed that. It was a slip of the tongue but it absolutely gave away his thoughts on the matter. He clearly believes that the teams above are there for the taking. As you say. Legend!!!

I was talking the other day about my memory of the last time Motherwell were in a genuine title challenge in Tommy McLean's last season and it all coming to an anticlimactic end with a loss to Dundee Utd at FP. I would hate for history to repeat itself. I wonder if the pressure will start to mount a little for the players as a title challenge becomes a possibility?

12 added minutes at Almondvale. I don't think my heart can take this. Exciting times

I will take that as confirmation that we are better than Man City.

I find it hard to believe that having only lost 3 games this season (two in Glasgow) with a gd of 27, we are still 10 points behind a stuttering Hearts. They were able to grind out another win yesterday. That resilience will probably make the difference in the end. It's shows the value of wins over draws. I still believe that we are the best football team in this league and we have to believe that we can win this league. It is a huge task but the dream is still alive.

Joint best goal difference with Hearts. That could still become important. Incredible season.

What do we want from Hearts v Falkirk. Stick or twist? I am going all in for a Falkirk win. The potential of being 7 points behind Hearts with a game in hand would be pretty exciting. Away victories for both Falkirk and Motherwell is a very tough ask right enough.

I find it difficult to know where to start when reading the comments of the last 24 hours. One thing is for certain, all the good will that has been built up over the last 6 months seems to have been tested very quickly. We can talk about a special bond between manager, players and supporters all we like but when all it takes is an accidental slip on a slick Pittodrie surface to show the cracks in the supports patience then it is clear that there is no special bond. We are not any different from any other support in the country. Nobody knows if the team selection would have worked last night. Going down to 10 men after 3 minutes changes the game completely. We played with a man short for 3/4 of the game and probably still looked like the better team. The attitude of the players was fantastic. We cannot expect that the same starting 11 play ever game. Watt is coming back from injury. Slattery has looked tired in recent games. I find the energy that Just manages to put in game after game quite remarkable . The modern game requires some squad rotation. JBA has always been clear about that. Anybody expecting that we just turn up to a Scottish Cup tie away to Aberdeen and walk away with a simple victory are displaying OF levels of delusion. We can talk all we like about building a platform for the future, building a playing style and identity, a new way of looking at the game in Scotland. What the last 24 hours has shown however, is all that really matters is the result and that even an exceptional manager like JBA has very little wriggle room to manoeuvre. It is disappointing but not surprising. The result will dictate if it is all sunshine or all shite after Saturday night. It's the way it always was and the way it always will be.

Two posts tonight Johnstone and the only person that is speaking any sense.

Every player that started for Motherwell tonight is a Premier League full time professional. Every player that started has made a contribution to a very successful season to date. The gameplan was thrown out the window after 3 minutes. It is very easy with the benefit of hindsight to say that the starting 11 would not have won that game tonight. We will never know because of the way the game started.

What? For a start, this is Aberdeen away not Albion Rovers. The day any Motherwell fan thinks we can simply turn up to these games and walk away with a victory is the day we have turned to OF levels of entitlement. Secondly, ever player that started tonight should have been capable of putting in a decent performance. Gordon was the natural replacement for Welsh. The club have just invested in Connelly as a long term goalkeeping option. But for an unfortunate 3rd minute incident we could and probably would have been more than competitive this evening. It is very interesting how quickly it all turns sour. If JBA were to read these boards this evening he would have every right to think WTF!!!

Agreed. It is amazing just how quickly the angst comes back and the blaming starts.

He did not intervene on VAR when Tarvenier wiped out the last man a few weeks back v Kilmarnock. So Beaton loves that rule.......sometimes!

Thanks for checking that. I must have been mixing seasons but I knew that Dundee Utd game was important. Was a huge anti climax.

I think we were at one point. My memory was that had we won against Dundee Utd and Rangers lost ( as they did at Easter Road) the gap would have been two points coming into the final 6/7 games. As it was Dundee Utd won, we stayed 5 points adrift and had a terrible end to the season finishing 15 points behind. Our form thereafter dropped off a cliff with McLeish. I think he had been benefitting from the afterglow of Tommy McLean's success. I am relying purely on memory so I can't remember the details but it was close up until mid March, early April.

I have a memory of heading to Firpark one midweek in Spring when Alex McLeish was manager for a Dundee Utd game when we were on the coat tails of Rangers. My memory was being disappointed by the attendance for what seemed like a very important game. It was a very flat performance that I think we lost 1-0. Rangers were at Hibs and also lost but it effectively ending the title challenge. I am not sure if that was the same season.