A magnificent, spirited performance from a young Motherwell side produced one point at Easter Road and it could have been three. After the week from hell, the boys have shown that there is hope for the future and that they deserve the full support of every 'Well fan.
The away fans (officially 171) were playing 'guess the formation' as the somewhat unfamiliar team was announced over the tannoy. Don Goodman made the bench but Ange was missing. The midfield had both Ramsay and Lasley alongside Leitch, Twaddle and Hammell in front of a back three of Corrigan, Strong and Townsley. Up front Derek Adams had the opportunity of being Spencer's last partner.
Making his debut on the bench was Stephen Pearson, a midfielder, who impressed recently in the U21 game v Rangers. One piece of luck was the omission of Sauzee from the Hibs line up and they missed him.
We had a great first half. The boys chased and fought to regain possession from a less than impressive Hibs midfield and passed and held the ball when they had the chance.
We had three great chances to none in the first forty five. Early on Adams got the ball into the net but the ref ruled that there had been an infringement. The best two chances fell to Ramsay and Townsley. In eighteen minutes Twaddle sent over one of several excellent crosses and Dougie had a free header - all he had to do was place the ball in the corner but he was inches wide. Just before the break, when we were on our seventh corner of the half, Derek Townsley found himself with the goal at his mercy after a poor clearance. But as he tried to sweep the ball into the goal the ball struck his standing foot and an embarrassing miss followed.
After an extended interval (to allow repairs to the temporary lights) we found ourselves under pressure for the first time. Libbra came on for Mixu, Latapy had a good run and shot just outside the box and the Hibs support woke up from their slumbers.
Billy countered with Goodman and Elliott replacing Ramsay and Spencer on the hour. Spenny got a standing ovation from the small dedicated band of away fans and we weathered the storm. In fact we started to push up and attack and always looked likely to break the deadlock.
We took the lead in seventy eight minutes after a corner was won after great work on the right wing by Elliott. Greg Strong was the hero. The ball was cleared initially but was crossed back in by Hammell, Goodman flicked on and Greg then controlled the pass with a heel before thundering a left foot shot into the net from just inside the box. He was rightly awarded the MOM champagne.
It was too much to hope that we could hold on and two minutes later a piece of slack defending (everyone caught at front post) allowed Latapy room to slam into the goal from eight yards.
The game continued to flow from end to end with a few half chances in front of either goal but the clock ran down and we gained a well deserved point.
After the game Billy said, "I was proud of every one of them". He made it clear that his desire would be to introduce them under more controlled conditions - possibly an indication that some new faces could be around before the Rangers game in a fortnight.
We are now hot on the heels of Dumfermline - and the chance of a top six finish at the cut off remains. But of more importance was the spirit shown by the team. We had an experienced spine of Goram, Strong, Leitch and Spencer surrounded by a lot of youngsters. They were a credit to the club tonight.
Special mention has to be made of Stephen Pearson's debut. The seventeen year old came on for the last fifteen minutes and did well. He did not look out of place and with any luck will feature in years to come.
'Well done the lads.
Team:
Goram
Corrigan Strong Townsley
Twaddle Ramsay (S60 Elliott) Leitch Lasley (S78 Pearson) Hammell
Spencer (S60 Goodman) Adams
Subs unused: Woods McFadden
Referee K Clark
Attendance 8,423
Hibs 1 Motherwell 1
4 March 2001
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