Celtic - 24h On

Mark McGhee lost no time in identifying (yet again) that our inability to defend set pieces is a weakness which has to be sorted. He felt that the game was lost when the wee striker headed his goal from the corner kick. That's an issue he'll be addressing in training but the longer term solution will probably become apparent during the winter transfer window.

Flag day at Parkhead!

There was a positive side to the game. We continued this season's refreshing attacking style and had a go. A defeat away to Celtic is, sadly, the usual outcome for Motherwell. The statistics are that the home team have won almost seventy percent of the meetings at Parkhead but for most of these we have set out a defensive stall.

It takes some confidence and self belief for a team to attack the champions on their own patch and it says much for the current atmosphere at Fir Park that we were able to play our 4-3-3 formation for spells. Of course there were long periods when we were pressed back into a defensive posture and in the second half there were a few hopeful long balls but we should concentrate on the first half performance.

So what of the second SPL cycle which starts when St Mirren pay us a visit on Saturday? There would seem to be no obvious reason why we can't build on the good progress already evident. If we can remain free of an injury crisis then we are capable of retaining our top six place at the end of the second cycle. Gretna are already a dozen points behind us so there should be no need to for anxious glances down the table.

But first there is a CIS cup tie to anticipate. We came close to beating Rangers a few weeks back - can we earn a trip to Hampden on Wednesday?