A SINGLE goal by David Clarkson allowed Motherwell to leapfrog yesterday's opponents into fourth position where they are now level with Dundee United on points. As a result, the Steelmen have given themselves an outstanding chance of European qualification.
The goalscorer himself succinctly summed up the situation: "We had to get through the patch of not winning games. It was good to get back and here and get a victory. It would have been hard for us (to qualify for Europe) if we had not won toda
y. It was important for us to get the first goal, and from then on we battled hard and overall we worked hard for each other."
Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen agreed on the Steelmen's early industry as the deciding factor: "They started much brighter than us, they passed much sharper and were first to the ball. It's a big blow." It was certainly a successful return to Fir Park for Motherwell. The pitch looked bare and sanded, with a large area entirely replaced.
Hibs underperformed badly, and obviously missed Steven Fletcher, who had picked up a chest injury in his midweek senior international debut against Croatia, while goalkeeper Yves Ma-Kalambay was also missing, replaced by Andrew McNeil. Nevertheless, Paatelainen sent out his side in an adventurous 4-3-3 formation with Merouane Zemmama up in support of Colin Nish and Dean Shiels.
Motherwell had scored just one goal in their previous five matches but any talk of a drought evaporated after just 140 seconds. The home side had attacked from the whistle and the Hibs' defence had not got itself organised when Paul Quinn sent in a cross to Clarkson standing on the left of the box some 16 yards from goal. The striker controlled the ball instantly and sent a low shot back across the sleeping defence and into the net.
Quinn himself had a go from distance just a minute later and the ball went only narrowly over the bar, and the skipper then missed a glaring chance from much closer after ten minutes. Hibs came slowly into things but it was the 15th minute before they mounted a decent attack, Graeme Smith in the Motherwell goal punching clear a corner. Shiels almost snatched an equaliser ten minutes later when his 26th minute snapshot smacked off Smith's bar, but Motherwell dominated the remainder of the half. McNeil just touched away a buzzing Simon Lappin free kick, before Clarkson's clever play on the right ended with a low cross which striking partner Chris Porter missed with the goal agape.
Porter almost made amends before half-time, one header drooping over the bar and another glancing wide off a Keith Lapsley cross. There was just time for Bob Malcolm to get himself booked for a ludicrously late hack on Paul Hanlon. Mark Reynolds later joined him in the book for another rash challenge, though this was not a dirty match and referee Kenny Clark handled things well.
At half-time, Abdesallam Benjeloun replaced John Rankin and went into the front line with Zemmama dropping into midfield – "we needed more in attack," said Paatelainen. But it was still Motherwell doing most of the pressing and had they showed a little more composure in the final third they might have won this match more comfortably.
One mazy run by Clarkson had Hibs in a total fankle, but his colleagues let the striker down by failing to follow up his good work. He sliced open the visitors' defence again just minutes later, this time with a neat backheel to Lapsley who shot narrowly past. As it was, Hibs mounted a semblance of a late challenge, though they, too, lacked composure in the vital areas. With eight minutes left, substitute Clayton Donaldson had a golden chance to equalise and there was nothing wrong with his goalbound low shot except that Smith got himself to the ball with a magnificent diving save.
Hibs tried to press forward, but that only left gaps in their rear which Motherwell failed to exploit. It was no classic, and play was often disjointed, but the Fir Park fans will care only about the points.
The full article contains 703 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
