Motherwell 1 - 3 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, November 7th, 2015, 3:00 PM at Fir Park, Motherwell
Attendance: 3,569
Referee: Craig Thomson
Motherwell Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Louis Moult (58) Greg Tansey (pen.) (11)
Miles Storey (45)
Iain Vigurs (53)

Team Managers
Mark McGhee John Hughes

Starting Eleven
Connor Ripley
Josh Law
Kieran Kennedy
Stephen McManus
Joe Chalmers
Lionel Ainsworth
Liam Grimshaw
Stephen Pearson
Marvin Johnson
Scott McDonald
Louis Moult
Owain Fon Williams
Josh Meekings
Daniel Devine
Carl Tremarco
Iain Vigurs
Liam Polworth
Greg Tansey
Ryan Christie
James Vincent
Lewis Horner
Miles Storey

Bench
Craig Samson
Louis Laing
Wes Fletcher
Theo Robinson
David Clarkson
Jack Leitch
Jake Taylor
Ryan Esson
Gary Warren
Alasdair Sutherland
Nat Wedderburn
Andrew Macrae
Dani Lopez

Substitutions
Wes Fletcher -> Scott McDonald (67)
Theo Robinson -> Marvin Johnson (78)
Dani Lopez for Ryan Christie (39)
Gary Warren for Miles Storey (71)
Nat Wedderburn for Iain Vigurs (79)

Bookings
Stephen Pearson (12)
Kieran Kennedy (55)
Stephen McManus (64)
Iain Vigurs (17)
Daniel Devine (51)

Red Cards
Stephen McManus (90+5) None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Owain Fon Williams (GK) 18 apps -
Josh Meekings 161 apps5 goals
Carl Tremarco 49 apps -
Daniel Devine 56 apps2 goals
Iain Vigurs 36 apps4 goals
Liam Polworth 47 apps1 goal
Lewis Horner 8 apps -
Ryan Christie 76 apps10 goals
Greg Tansey 120 apps19 goals
James Vincent 60 apps5 goals
Miles Storey 9 apps5 goals
Gary Warren (sub) 124 apps12 goals
Nat Wedderburn (sub) 9 apps -
Dani Lopez (sub) 10 apps1 goal

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Ryan Christie (20 years 260 days)
Oldest Player:Josh Meekings (2017 years 101 days)
Average Player Age:24 years 285 days
Domestic Players:6 (54.55 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Andrew Macrae (17 years 183 days)
Oldest Player:Josh Meekings (2017 years 101 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 146 days
Domestic Players:11 (64.71 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

I wasn't expecting that:

Inverness defied the odds to surprise even their most ardent of fans with a tremendous 1-3 win at Fir Park. A re-taken Greg Tansey penalty opened the scoring and Miles Storey added a second just before the interval. Iain Vigurs crashed home a superb third ten minutes after the break before Motherwell's Louis Moult poked in a consolation for the Steelmen soon after. To complete Wells misery, Stephen McManus was red carded in stoppage time.

Inverness were down to the bare bones and by the time the final whistle went the bones were even barer as Ryan Christie and Miles Storey had to leave the field suffering from injury.

Miles Storey managed to make the starting eleven and Gary Warren was on the bench along with Dani Lopez and Nat Wedderburn, but there was no place for utility man Danny Williams anywhere as he was suffering from a groin injury. Lewis Horner filled in for the suspended David Raven at right back.

Motherwell managed to get Stephen Pearson fit enough for duty and he started. Theo Robinson and Wes Fletcher began on the bench with Scott MacDonald expected to score the goals and the talented Lionel Ainsworth to be one of the main providers.

Inverness were minus a teamful of players and John Hughes had to sit in the stand. It was looking bleak for the Caley Jags, so much so that even the supporters bus was not required as they joined in the general malaise.

Johndo will take over from here and give us a full match report when he has recovered from the shock of seeing the team win................................

Well was it worth the 180+ mile car journey in the persisting rain, an even worse return leg added to by a gale force wind, staying in Hamilton overnight, trains cancelled, getting a bus to Motherwell, getting lost, the Himalayan trek to the South Stand, a taxi back home and winning the Stoke v Chelsea first scorer sweep and not being there to pick up the winnings - presumably drunk by my compadres - Ya bet yer feckin bottom dollar it was.

I thought that was as good a performance as we have put in this season. I thought that we deserved to win. Not a bad feat away from home with half a feckin squad to pick from and the manager in the stands. The Well crowd were so painful. On looking at the highlights / replays I think that he got every decision spot on. Well may well have had the lions share of the possession and considerably more shots (not on target !!) but we were relatively comfortable - apart from a companion who said that he would settle for 3-3 with 20 minutes to go - (hope he feckin choked on my Arnutovic winnings !!

Looked like we went 4-4-1-1 to begin with - four at the back - a diamond in the middle with Tansey at the rear and Vincent up top - Christie roving and Storey running the line. Oh and two Development players on the bench. I thought that we played some lovely stuff in the first 20 minutes. Christie let fly with a curling left footer that went just wide and we were looking in charge. In some ways the early penalty goal changed our outlook. As fer the penalty - it was soft but you simply do not raise yer hand in a crowded goalmouth. Again a yellow is harsh but those are the rules. Tansey made it a replay of last week and the keeper sussed it. And again Thompson got it "spot-on" with the retake decision and TANSEY fired this one down the middle. Both Law and Storey encroached. But poor Well felt hard done by. WELL what they should have done was to concentrate on getting a shot on target plus their final passes were shocking. But they cascaded derision on Craig Thompson instead. We always looked more like scoring in the first half apart from a cracker that hit our crossbar. We may have thought that it was all over when we lost Christie and our shape. Lopez went into the Christie role which is OK'ish when he has Storey beside him. And STOREY neatly got himself in to a scoring position and abetted by a wicked deflection the ball sailed in the net to put us 2-0 up at half time.

I had to laff at our substitutes at half time. The sight of Wedderburn and Warren playing passball with MacRae and Sutherland was like watching the Hulk, Spiderman and two of Snowwhite's dwarves.

So onto the second and preparing for an onslaught which did come but not before Goal of the Season, probably even more satisfying as it was clearly straight out of the training ground. Superb flighted corner from Tansey and as sweet a strike from VIGURS as you will ever see. After that it was Well, Well, Well but we defended stoutly and always looked a danger on the break. May be harsh but I though that Fon Williams was at fault with the goal. It came at the perfect time for Well but they did not cash in on it. Perhaps they were too intent on chastising and calling Mr. Thompson !! Plus we never looked like scoring after Storey departed - clutching his hamstring again. But we hung on in there and thoroughly deserved the three points.

And the 111 Highlanders went home happy - and what a feckin noise at the end with the acoustics of an empty stand :ictscarf:

Match report written by tm4tj



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 13 10 2 1 34 10 24 32
2. Hearts 14 9 2 3 26 14 12 29
3. Aberdeen 14 9 1 4 21 16 5 28
4. St. Johnstone 14 7 2 5 29 22 7 23
5. Ross County 13 5 3 5 18 15 3 18
6. Motherwell 14 4 2 8 11 18 -7 14
7. Hamilton Academical 14 5 3 6 18 20 -2 18
8. Dundee 14 4 6 4 20 23 -3 18
9. Inverness CT 14 4 5 5 15 17 -2 17
10. Kilmarnock 14 4 3 7 15 24 -9 15
11. Partick Thistle 14 2 5 7 10 20 -10 11
12. Dundee Utd 14 2 2 10 10 28 -18 8

* - Table split into two divisions of six.