Kmcalpin

It seems like its going to be a busy window for us. To sum up so far, "likely" moves are: Bowman, Rose, MacLean and Main out. Maybe Sammon and Turnbull too. Hastie back in and MacCormack in. Thats not to say that the likes of ATS, Newell, and Bigi may not move on. Time will tell. It does seem though that Robbo for all his stock interview language, is well aware of our deficiencies and will be pretty ruthless in moving non performing players on to introduce fresh blood.

What better way to end 2018 and enter the break than a great derby win. It also gives us a bigger advantage over the bottom 3 teams. A big support, wild celebrations and great away day all told. Happy days indeed. With what we've had to put up this season it was just reward. We thoroughly deserved to win and although the first 45 was tight we clearly dominated the second half being the better team. Not the best football we've ever played but it was definitely an improvement on the hoofball of recent months and we did try to play on the deck. Accies were very poor it has to be said. Whilst they were as streetwise as ever they lacked their usual aggressiveness and abrasiveness. No doubt "Scott Brown Mini Me" MacKinnon was missed. The team played well as a whole but I thought Frear and my MOTM, Aldred, were standouts. Frear added much need pace and Aldred was just immense both in attack and in defence. Both his goals were very well taken and our strikers could learn a thing or two from him. Hartley too played his part. Good to see Adam Livingstone come on and get some more first team experience - hopefully he'lll now kick on. Fair play too to Andy Rose for putting in a good shift just before his departure. We did have some weaknesses though. I wasn't in the least surprised when Accies scored from an incursion down our right flank. That was their 3rd such break down an exposed right flank in the first 17 minutes. In general we played far too narrowly and gave Accies some freedom on our flanks, but fortunately they were pretty toothless and couldn't breach our central defence. Gillespie had very little to do. I wasn't impressed by our strikers who worked hard but achieved little. Its maybe significant that both our goals came from a centre back scoring at set pieces. I wasn't impressed by Nick Walsh who had a poor game from start to finish characterised by inconsistency throughout. It wasn't a dirty game and I'm still at a loss how we picked up 3 bookings. If Mr Walsh had to meet a quota then perhaps he could have dished out yellow cards to our old pal Imrie for nearly starting a riot and Sowah for a very bad challenge on Richard Tait. The gazebo side linesman also made some very dubious calls. On the way to the game I spoke brielfy to Charles Dunne who seems to be making a good recovery thank goodness. A "fit" looking Craig Tanner sat just in front of us. A great day to be a Well fan.

Agree with previous posters about MacCormack's abilities but would add that he was lighning fast. If he#s looked after himself he'll still have that speed.

Scott Burns reporting that Luton are keen on Curtis Main.

Dundee and St Mirren will be paying up contracts to release these players so that will cost them big time. But yes, they will strengthen as will Accies. So, we don't just have to compete against them as they are but as they will be. Agree that the Ross County will be a good barometer in a limited sense.

If they're paying his wages just now then they should have the final say. If however, we're continuing to pay his wages then we are still his employer and have every right to call upon his services today.

If true, I wonder if Maguire will also start making it a 3-5-2 or something similar.

Yes, it won't be pretty. Accies will be their usual self, so expect timewasting, gamesmanship and fouls aplenty.

Fixed, thanks to one of this site's members. Thanks.

Thanks anyway folks. I'm not able to get to Glasgow very often. Not a matter of life and death.

Another thought. Would it be possible to recall Jake Hastie 2 days prematurely?

Ah I'd forgotten about him. It depends I suppose on 1) Which club is currently paying his wages and 2) if there is anything in his contract about this situation. If its ok I'd have no qualms about playing him preferably in midfield but in central defence if needs be.

Good on you Tom, as someone had to stand up and say it. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/3674920/motherwell-tom-aldred-kilmarnock-stephen-odonnell-down-like-a-girl-curtis-main/ O'Donnell should have received a yellow card for simulation, but the referee bottled it. A nasty side to our game, which we see all too often.

A reasonable line up but its based on a best case scenario. We've heard nothing about Maguire's availablity and knowing our luck this season I'm concerned. Turnbull must be rated rated very doubtful if he's had a virus. If we assume Maguire is ok, and it is an assumption, then I'd substitute Gorrin for Turnbull. That would then give me a dilemma as I'm not keen to pick Campbell but the only realistic alternative seems to be Bigi, who I think has blown his chance and would cause us problems in a critical area. Failing that either Livingston or Brown. If we have any injuries on Saturday, which isn't impossible as Martin Canning is all too well aware, then we're in trouble. I suspect though that Robbo will try to turn our injury woes into an advantage by keeping Canning (and us) guessing right up until the last minute.

On to footballing matters now. Does anyone know if Barry Maguire will be available? If he isn't we're in real trouble.

They will be issued with tickets and seat numbers. Simples.

Yes great to see Stuart McKinstry get some exposure to the first team. He's worked hard for his chance and is a real Well fan to boot. Comes from a lovely family.

Agreed. Its Sammon & Johnson for me with Scott on the bench. Big selection headaches for us and, as always at this time of year, you wonder which apparently fit players will also be out through injury or illness.

A real calamitous game yesterday but when the dust settles, history will show it was another narrow 1-0 loss. I've never seen 3 head injuries like those in the first 30 minutes in all my years of watching us. Lets hope the 3 lads recover quickly and with no long term damage to their health. Anyway on to the football. We did make some changes to the starting line but I'm not convinced that they would have worked. Still, through necessity, further enforced changes were required early on that blew away our game plan. I thought Grimshaw could have done better at the goal as Jones was given that wee bit of time and space to whip in a well placed cross. A team like St Johnstone or Livingston would not have conceded such a goal. After a few early clashes in the penalty boxes and elsewhere , the game took on a niggly, nasty side and threatened to boil over once or twice. Tshibola kept going down very easily and conned the ref much to the annoyance of our lads. By the 40 minute mark a red card for someone looked very likely. In the second half Killie inexpicably took their foot off the gas and we enjoyed much more pressure although virtually all of it was toothless. We had one chance which Bigi missed late on but that was it. Main was downright stupid in his ongoing feud with Killie defenders and there was no need for his reaction, but O'Donnell was rightly barracked by our support for his OTT reaction. Killie ran out very comfortable winners and I always had the impression that, even if we hadn't had those early injuries, they would have stepped up a gear or two to take the points. We played far too narrowly and gaveoursleves unnecessary problems because of that. As to player performances, I thought Tait was outstanding in his makeshift centre back role and was my clear MOTM. I thought Aldred too worked away quietly but effectively. Campbell again looked jaded and ineffective. Grimshaw had a funny game - poor defensively but great going forward with some surging runs. Bigi was a big disappointment. This was a perfect stage for him as we tried to play on the deck on a great pitch but he just failed to rise to the occasion apply his creative talent. Defensively he was all over the place and constantly failed to track and cover opponents. Still not sure about Gorrin - time will tell. Frear flattered to deceive. Some eyecatching runs but no end product. Steven MacLean had a shocker of a game and was completley inconsistent. He pulled us back 3 times for stealing yards at free kicks but failed to punish Kille, who were just as guilty as us, once. I've no doubt his failure to clamp down firmly early on contributed in part to Main's red card. I was also puzzled as to how the Killie keeper got away with handling well outside the box (I hope Trevor Carson wasn't watching). Another 1-0 defeat and we move on.

I met Andy P in the club shop yesterday and we were both looking buy a calander. The assistant told us that they were sold out and the shop wouldn't be getting in any more. Maybe they've cut numbers just a wee bit too fine this year?

I think we can now add a central defender to our January shopping list. Hope our injured lads are all ok. Mbulu took a nasty blow to the head (we thought he indicated he'd been punched) and his injury could be very serious. He has to get it repaired PDQ. My wife had a detached retina and its a very serious condition indeed.

Not really. All they have to do is to instruct fans to sit in their correct seats and enforce it. No exceptions. It isn't difficult.

According to Saints fans he's lightweight and has done nothing despite being a top earner. Brian Kerr Mk2. No thanks.

Very true. Had Stewart been red carded (correctly) then it would have a very different game. Ref was shockingly inconsistent and given the niggly bad tempered nature of the game a red card for one of our players was always likely All that said we were poor.

Last time I was there we arrived in plenty of time and when we showed our tickets to a steward he instructed us to disregard seat numbers and sit anywhere. Other fans were told to stick to allocated seats. A recipe for chaos and trouble.