Let’s nor forget that among the ashes were more than a few reasons to be cheerful. For most of the first forty five we had United on the ropes. The rest of the team responded to Skippy’s return by showing an urgency and belief which had been missing at 
The wee man gave the Tangerine defence all sorts of problems and it was no surprise to find him at the heart of the early goals. It all looked so easy. We were two up after eleven minutes with every prospect of more to come.
The goal we conceded before the break was a clear warning that nothing should be taken for granted and Fitz’s goal after the restart restored our lead. But what followed was inexcusable.
It goes without saying that our back four was thrown into chaos by the injury to Kinniburgh. The consequent switch of Quinn to centre back was to prove costly. The blame cannot be heaped on his shoulders alone though (remember, he celebrated his 20th birthday last month). Others were also at fault.
With hindsight maybe the smart move might have been to move
Butcher’s comments after the game echoed the thoughts of the fans. “All our defenders will be made to watch the video of that game as in all my time as a manager and a player I have never seen such appalling defending, particularly in the second half.” His use of descriptive words to describe the defence was comprehensive – “Some of that defending was appalling, embarrassing, disgusting, disgraceful and no where near good enough to play for Motherwell Football Club.”
There will be little time for self pity.