St Mirren 24h On

The first day of every season is filled with a mixture of hope and expectation. For Motherwell fans the anticipated promise is rarely delivered but on this occasion even the delay on the M8 did not take the shine off of this fine win.

Leitch warms up the squad

There had been lots of speculation about the team which our new manager would select. He had shuffled the deck thoroughly in the pre season games yet it was not clear what the starting eleven would be.

There was one forced absence which restricted his choice. The knock suffered by McCormack at the Nottingham Forest game meant that there was an automatic choice of Clarkson and Porter and they made the best of it. Eyebrows were raised at the preference of Fitzpatrick over Mensing and of Quinn over Corrigan. It was a pleasure to see O'Donnell contribute fifty minutes to the game. Let's hope we can get an extended run from him this season.

The variable formation which McGhee seems to prefer was clearly evident in the first five minutes. When we were not in possession Porter stayed up the park as a lone striker. Clarkson and McGarry added width to produce a five man midfield. That shape changed to a more attacking 4-3-3 when we got the ball forward. At times McGarry and Clarkson would switch flanks. The St Mirren defence were asked lots of questions and at times they were slow to adapt and opportunities would appear.

The goal was a peach. Porter and Clarkson worked well on the right side if the area and Clarkson pass found the third forward, McGarry, in space at the left side of the attack. The season was less than three minutes old when the ball found the net yet it must be a possible candidate for goal of the season. As luck would have it the move unfolded in front of the Motherwell support.

We created many excellent scoring chances and managed to snuff out the threat from St Mirren. Had we been three up at the break the home side could hardly have complained. Yet there were times when it seemed that we might pay for our inability to kill them off. If the opposition had made more of a free kick from the edge of the box on the stroke of half time then our good work would have been undone.