Wednesday gave Motherwell another chance to end the barren run but slack defence and poor attack allowed a poor Rangers side to take the spoils. Saturday’s Lanarkshire derby offers the last hope of ending the winter gloom.
There was nothing between the teams as they returned to the Ibrox dressing rooms for a half-time cuppa but we wilted in the second half and failed to create any decent goal scoring opportunity.
The loss has delivered a horrible LLWDLLLLDL sequence in the last ten league games. In the words of Stephen Robinson in his post-match interview, “that’s relegation form”. None of the 500 in the Sandy Jardine West Corner would disagree.
The need for a competent pair of strikers is urgent. Louis Moult sat with the away fans and accepted endless handshakes and selfies with his usual good grace but how we missed his skills on the pitch.
The manager has the difficult task of fielding an eleven capable of beating Hamilton on Saturday. Our neighbours were rested in midweek as their supposedly all weather pitch was frozen. But thankfully they can just about match us for mediocrity. They are as capable of making defensive blunders as the rest and we will be grateful if they stumble at Fir Park.
Motherwell won the previous meeting with the Accies despite giving them a goal of a start. Unusually, Moult was not on the score sheet that day as Rose and Hartley got the honours. We will be grateful if the pair would oblige again.
Our opponents are four points behind us in ninth place and we must not give them any prospect of salvation by allowing the gap to close. It is unlikely to be a classic but home advantage may be enough to tip the balance; 1-0 to the Mighty ‘Well.
Remember the last time Accies were at Fir Park?