There were two changes from last week’s eleven; Hammell and Ross took to the pitch while Hateley and Hutchison were moved to the bench. Humphrey remains wrapped in cotton wool and today’s performance highlights how much we miss his pace on the wing.
Were they the best in 'Well strips today?
The first half finished with Motherwell only one behind and still in the game. Lafferty was played in and had time to go wide when Randolph came to block his path but the striker scored when his shot crossed the line off of Hammell.
McGregor was forced to make his only serious save immediately following the opener. Jones, in a rare productive moment, unleashed a cracking shot and with the aid of a slight defection it seemed bound for the postage stamp corner but the keeper, fully stretched, got a hand to it.
Murphy supplied most of our few attacking threats and he might have done better in 24 minutes when he cut in from the left and passed man after man along the 18 yard line. Unfortunately by the time he found a shooting opportunity he was beyond the right side of the box and his chip led to nothing.
Hammell had a blast from a 25 yard free kick but his effort flew high. Rangers looked threatening but failed to extend their lead and it seemed that we had every reason for hope when the teams turned around and we attacked the Cooper end.
In the second half collapse we conceded a further four goals and it could have been more. McGregor could have been a spectator and he was able to see his outfield players run our defence ragged. Davis scored the second when he converted following Naismith’s shot, Jelavic rattled the bar before heading the third from the back post. Naismith grabbed his share with a late double, both fine strikes, and the home support left glad that the final whistle had saved us from further punishment.
There were few in the team who would rate pass marks and perhaps our best remedy is to forget the whole sorry game and concentrate on next week’s trip to Tannadice.