The manager showed faith with the eleven who started against St Miren last week. There was a fairly constant drizzle which lasted throughout the match and the ball fired off the wet surface. 
Clarkson had a great game. As ever he worked tirelessly and the only flaw was (again) his lack of a killer touch in front of goal. He had an early chance when a Porter leap lead to a Lasley cross. Clarkson slid in but under pressure from the keeper the chance was missed.
The new ICT striker, Niculae, looked threatening and he provided a couple of dangerous headers across the face of Smith's goal. Thankfully there were no takers. Our keeper had to react quickly five minutes from the break when he got down to a McBain effort from close in. The play was now swinging from end to end.
The second half saw Motherwell attacking the Cooper end and there was plenty of entertainment provided as we had most of the ball in this period. Clarkson and Lasley combined at the edge of the box and Lasley got a shot away then McGarry had an effort on the break but Fraser coped easily.
Clarkson was next up with a header from the far post which missed the target while the keeper was stranded. McGhee decided that fresh legs were needed and Porter was replaced with McCormack. The big striker had done well in the first half but was winning less high balls as the game progressed. There followed an exciting fifteen minutes.
We fell behind when a Black free kick found Tokely at the left side of the area. His rifled shot gave Smith no chance and we had to chase the game.
Captain Phil rose to the occasion and his glancing header found the postage stamp corner with five minutes remaining. There was no delay with celebrations and the priority was to snatch a late winner.
The ball found the net!
It arrived when Clarkson made another lung bursting run into area. He was though but fell after a desperate tackle stopped his progress. Referee Freeland paused for an instant then pointed to the spot. The stadium clock was already at ninety minutes when McCormack made no mistake and slid the ball to the keeper's right hand corner.
It was a spirited showing from the team and the win came partly because we were still full of running at the end. Maybe there's something in this new training regime after all!
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