Review of 2004 (2)

Fir Park had seen a new pitch laid on top of the long awaited undersoil heating system. A few thousand fans turned up at the Open Day to see the new surface in the July sunshine.

The new surface in July

Things were not so rosy in the dressing room. The heart of the team had gone. Adams, Lasley and Craig were replaced by Paterson, Kerr and the relatively unknown Foran. Before the season had started we had lost Kerr as his studs caught in the turf at Love Street and the luck of the draw had delivered the SPL opener at Parkhead.

We lost the first two games and many felt that a struggle against relegation might lie ahead. Then something wonderful happened.

Clarkson comes close at Parkhead

We dominated game three at Dens Park and secured our first three points of the season. Burns was left to soak up the rays on the bench while McDonald (and McBride) were given starting positions. Skippy grabbed his chance and scored a double. We were on a run.

A series of eight games without defeat catapulted the Mighty ‘Well up the table. A win against Hearts was a notable contribution to that string of results and by the beginning of October we were sitting pretty in third spot. Not only was our league form impressive but we had managed to evade two CIS Cup banana skins. Morton and Inverness had fallen and Livingston were soon to join them. Note the three away draws!

Foran, McBride and McDonald had been scoring goals for fun and we were riding a wave. Richie quickly established himself as a fans’ favourite. Both McBride and McDonald were to miss weeks with injury though the youth pool was able to produce replacements. Clarkson, despite no lack of effort, had been less fortunate in front of goal. Marshall had a solid relationship with a solid back four while Leitch and O’Donnell took it in turns to lend experience to the midfield.

Then came the barren spell. Five games without a point. These failures came against our fellow top six clubs and were mostly defeats by the odd goal but the CIS Cup game against Livingston was to be another turning point.

SPL table October 3 2004

We won the quarter final five-nil and then amassed fifteen points without loss (only conceding one goal on the way). Again Hearts were beaten, this time at Tynecastle and there is now some talk of us setting our sights on a second consecutive top six finish.

The year ended with a couple of defeats but nevertheless the start of season 2004/5 has given the fans some wonderful entertainment. From the twenty SPL games we have had nine wins, nine defeats and two draws and a CIS semi final to anticipate.

The tabloids continue to link both Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas with almost every managerial vacancy on either side of the border. This tribute their success at Fir Park is flattering if not a little tiresome. Let’s hope that talk of their departure is well off the mark.

Happy New Year to ‘Well fans everywhere!

Review of 2003 here.

Review of 2002(1) here.
Review of 2002(2) here.
Review of 2001 here.