After the narrow defeat at Parkhead, hopes were high for the cup trip to Dunfermline. As usual, a large ‘Well crowd made the journey for 3rd round day but they were to be badly let down.
Despite several pints beforehand and a ‘no non-believers rule’ on buses, this turned out to be a day that was better forgotten.The team showed no fight, no organisation and certainly no skill.Dunfermline raced into a 3-0 lead and we only threatened when Stuart Elliott was given the last fifteen minutes from the bench.He scored but it was too little too late.The dream was over for another year!
The depression from the Dunfermline game was threatening to overcome Motherwell fans and the mid-week visit of Dundee was not lightening the mood.However, when our backs are to the wall and everyone writes us off, that’s when Motherwell tend to produce the goods – and this occasion was no different.The expulsion of Ned Kelly after a dressing room bust up in Dunfermline left us short in the forward department and Eric Black was forced to start McFadden and Elliott up front.Whether Black would have found this combination otherwise will never be known, but the young pair saved our season.They rampaged through the Dundee defence and McFadden’s second goal, the clincher in a 4-2 win, will go down as one of the best seen at Fir Park.Winning the ball on the right touchline, he jinked past two players and curled the ball into the far corner.When McFadden and Hammell scored to defeat Dundee United on the Saturday, we were racing clear of St Johnstone at the bottom of the league.While this was positive in the sense that it guaranteed our survival, it meant our season was effectively over by the middle of January.It seemed as though all we had to look forward to was a boring few months…
The signing of Dirk Lehmann was a positive step and although we did receive yet another tanking at East End (on the graveyard list now, surely), Dirk scored his first goal for us in a home win over Killie.Three home wins out of three in January – nice!
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Another new signing was David Fererre – after one terrible performance in the U21s, he impressed in a second game.He was given a chance from the bench in the big team against Hibs and he grabbed it with both hands.Fair enough, the Hibee defence was terrible but how many other Motherwell players have scored hat-tricks on their debut?The midget David sent the ‘Well fans wild and gave us another positive sign for the future.We then lost a couple, won at St Johnstone (two out of two at Perth, our only away wins) and then went on a terrible run that consisted of losses to Dundee, Celtic, Dundee United and Hibs.On the bright side, we did draw at home to St Johnstone, Stuart Elliott’s scrappy equaliser being the goal that officially kept us up.Still, we did have some interesting news coming up which would give everyone a shock…
| Season Review 2001/2 Part 3 |
| Season Review 2001/2 Part 2 |
| Season Review 2001/2 Part 1 |