Although there’s a particular buzz that comes from one of those rare days we should take even greater comfort in the haul of nine points from the last four games. Given that we were eighth in the middle of February we can be well pleased at the improvement shown on the last fortnight.
After such a great team performance it seems unfair to pick out anyone for praise as they all delivered a five star show for heart and determination. However, Sutton’s willingness to persist in the lone striker job and his two goals have to earn a special mention as does Gunning for his contribution alongside Hutchison at the centre of defence. The prospect of facing the firepower of Celtic with two 20 year olds in those key positions gave plenty of cause for concern before kick off but they pair of them earned their spurs with a flawless display.
Stuart McCall made it very clear in his post match comments that all he cared about was that this was a win for Motherwell and nothing to do with his former days at Ibrox. It was inevitable that some members of the press pack, ever eager to stir up Old Firm divisions, would attempt to extract a careless comment but our man sidestepped the trap with ease.
His email to fans pointed out that Darren Randolph has now passed John Ruddy’s tally of clean sheets from last season. That was his sixteenth today and he fully deserves the pat on the back. He’ll be sure to recognise the help of his teammates in passing that milestone.
There will have to be a few days of recuperation before the team can concentrate fully on the next outing in Inverness and thankfully there is no midweek fixture. We have a decent record at the Caledonian Stadium and if we can show the same level of commitment as was evident on Sunday we should have a happy homeward journey.