As far as bad nights go this was one of the worst. Motherwell dominated this game from start to finish but lost for two reasons. The inability to get a decent ball into the box and the one time they were put under pressure an inability to defend a corner.
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It started so promisingly as a ball released Murphy and he and Sutton were two on one with the goalkeeper.A quick shot or pass would have almost certainly led to the goal before a sizable chunk of the support had made their way out of the Airdrie traffic chaos but dallying allowed the centre half to get back and concede a corner.
The corner then eluded everyone and Saunders steamed in at the back post to shank his shot over the top.At that stage it felt that the goal would come.
But it didn't and Motherwell's dominance of possession grew.However midway through the first half you could sense a growing arrogance in the midfield of Motherwell and the cheap concession of a corner was followed by some terrible marking and a crucial away goal for the Welsh visitors.
The game restarted and Motherwell again had all the possession and very little cutting edge as time and time again Saunders and O'Brien got to the by line and wasted the ball.
Slane replaced Lasley at the break and early he on he had a run at the Welsh defence but on the whole he got bogged down in the middle like the man he replaced.One cross did fizz across the Llanelli goal but Sutton couldn't shape his body to get a connection on the ball.
Time and time again the ball was passed sideways and backwards but the cutting edge would not come.A free kick from the edge of the box was our reward for the umpteenth clumsy tackle (you could see Llanelli didn't qualify by fair play).This could have been the chance but Forbes's effort would have beenmore welcome for the Lions on Saturday.
In the 90th minute Slane had an effort that looked like it was going into the bottom corner but their goalie justified the expense of bringing him with them by tipping it round the post.Forbes managed to draw a second save from him moments later with a powerful effort which was sadly right down his throat.
We were poor going forward tonight but Llanelli are a bad lot.With another week's training and understanding how to play without Clarkson, Hughes et al there is no reason we cannot be confident of going to Wales and winning.
Motherwell: Fraser, Hammell, Reynolds, Craigan, Sutton, Lasley (Slane 46), Murphy, O'Brien (McHugh 74), McGarry, Forbes, Saunders. Subs not used: Smith, Fitzpatrick, Hutchinson, Page, Kosiorowski.