Kris-A-Goalda

The NIFL Premiership kicks off again on October 17th, so they've a while yet before regular games if they go out to Torshavn or us. Cliftonville have been playing friendlies against Championship and amateur sides over here, Linfield are in full flow in their Champions League qualifiers and Coleraine will be starting their Euro warm ups soon as well, so the Glens may get some friendlies lined up for fitness.

Glentoran will be coming into their first tie here with a good bit of momentum, but will also be lacking their star guys from last term. They won the Irish Cup two Fridays ago, after extra time, and less than 24 hours later, they sold Navid Nasseri, arguably their best fit player, to Linfield. Hrvoje Plum was a standout for them from August til January, pinging in free-kicks and worldies all over the shop until he injured himself trying to do a Larne player in at the turn of the year. Hasn't played since. No coincidence that their Irish League title challenge tailed off after that, as Plum had been pulling the strings towards it. Patrick McClean, brother of James, has put in some shift for them, scored a belter of an overhead kick in the earlier Irish Cup rounds and was a real driving force in the semi and final. Robbie McDaid is also a tricky wee player up front for them, while Elliot Morris is still a top goalie at Irish League level, despite his age. Manager Mick McDermott has instilled a good ethos in their dressing room and on the pitch, something they've badly lacked in the 6 years I've been over here and taking an interest in the local football. Like with almost all Irish League clubs, the Glens are a part time team, so by virtue of that, our fitness should be miles ahead. Both the semi and final went to extra time for them and after about 70 minutes in both games, Glentoran, Cliftonville and Ballymena were all blowing out their arses. If they manage to get past HB, then we should be able to see them off, although if Plum and Nasseri were still options for them, I'd maybe be a bit warier of them.

It's the first game. Plenty of time to iron out the creases. Should we and could we have won last night? Probably. County scored and then tried to see the game out for an hour, putting everyone in two banks of defence, making it difficult to unpick through the middle. Hastie didn't look interested in beating his man for much of the first half, but glad to see that Seedorf did. McGinley made lots of positive runs down the left and put in some decent balls, the one for Whyte in particular. Long and Turnbull linked very well in first half and penalty aside, Gallagher and Lamie coped well with anything coming into them. Distribution from Dec was hit and miss. Donnelly's miss was as poor as you'll see and Grimshaw seemed like he had the wrong boots on. Carson did what he had to, Lang looks like he could be a handful and with quality delivery from either side, and better Polworth set pieces, Whyte could be a Sutton/Higdon type target man. I agree with the gaffer, that while the result is obviously at the forefront of everyone's minds, there were a few positive signs to be seen from the squad last night. The bar has been set for "worst" performance of the season so we can only improve from this point on.

Christy Manzinga moves over the water to Linfield and goes straight in as their number 9 for the season. Should do well over here in the Irish League - if he's been through preseason with us, he'll be one of the fittest in the league by time it starts up again. Good chance for him to kick-start himself after being a so-so squad player last year.

I see St Mirren are looking at Stevie May. I reckon we would be a great club for him to rejuvenate himself with. Always liked him and while it's not worked out at Aberdeen, he was essentially doing the Curtis Main role for them last season. If Robinson wants a similar setup and could somehow get May to find his confidence and shooting boots, he could be a great addition.

There were 4 subs at half time and another 6 after an hour. Gillespie was the only one to get the full 90. Thought Donnelly did a decent enough job in front of the defence. Polworth looked off the pace in the first half, caught on the back foot quite a bit and easily beaten by Jordan Stewart in the first 15. Big Gallagher looks like he'll be an astute signing, read what little offence Linfield gave very well. Hylton had a few runs down the left in first half that showed he may have a bit of flair about him. Scott was trying too hard at times, a couple of ballooned efforts from distance were as close as he came. Him and the home 22 had a few miles at each other as well. Other than that, was a fairly bland game. Having watched Linfield a good bit over last few seasons, I was surprised how quickly the dropped out of the game. Defended well up until Long's goal but didn't show much else going forward after it.

Not sure if he was ever linked with the Well, but have it on good authority Gormley was to be a £30,000 signing for St Johnstone at start of the summer. Had all been agreed with Tommy Wright, until the insurance bill at McDiarmid Park for their injuries last season came in and wiped out the funds for the move. Smashing striker as well, would have grabbed a fair few in the Scottish Premiership.

4000 folk all trying to connect to the Internet at the same time under a tin roof means you'll always get rubbish signal. Exactly same at concerts and any large gatherings. Whatever happened to that handsome lad off MFCTV anyway?

Ramsden, Vigurs and Carswell all looking for new clubs according to PFA Scotland. http://www.clyde1.com/sport/news/motherwell-trio-moving-on/#.VVRe5J94bco.twitter

Anyone with an Android device can get the game on Mobdro. Google it on device and install it, gets all Sky Sports channels and BT Sport too.

Alright chaps, here's a blog piece I helped the guys at The Terrace with about the best goals of the season: http://terracepodcast.net/top-five/2014/5/21/top-five-motherwell-goals-201314 Also, I put together a bit for their "Hot Goal Time Machine" series, with the best Well goal of each of the SPL season's plus this year: http://terracepodcast.net/scottish-premiership/2014/4/30/hot-goal-time-machine-motherwell Goals galore there. KJ

Check your emails boys...

sigh, neither have I...

take it no one has checked their emails since 1645....

Outbid in the final five seconds!

Doesn't seem to have been many bids so far...everyone hanging on to be a last minute bid stealer?

Have gone a bit Twitter daft with this already today, but here's some Higgy Stats: This Season: 24 goals across 17 of 34 SPL games this season. Motherwell have not lost any games this term when the big man has scored. Last Season: 14 strikes in 35 SPL games, where MFC lost only one match that he found the net in, 2-1 defeat to Celtic. Total SPL goals: 38 from 69 games, including a hat trick of hat tricks over two seasons. Add to those tallies, his 3 Cup goals in both Scottish and Diddy and he's netted 41 times in total since joining for nothing from St Mirren. Considering we are second and pretty much guaranteed Europe again, he has to be in with a shout of SPL Player of the Year with a record like that, and the one he has just broken. On a slightly smaller scale, Henrik Ojamaa has only lost once in games he has scored in for us in the SPL.

We were a goal down to Hibs at half time before Higgy's hat trick last season...

Fantastic performance and result last night right through the team, but McFadden was just phenomenal. The speed of his feet to get the ball past Stevenson, Done and pretty much everyone was the mark of someone special. Blew my voice out on comms when he scored, as well as the hairs on back of neck standing up. It was like I was 16 again. Regardless of your opinion of him, Higgy is officially a Well legend now. 20 SPL goals and counting this term, scored the goal(s) that ensured Champions League fitba last season and the way he dealt with McPake last night was immense. Would like to see how much is made of McPake's "Randolph" incident. Maybe the goals will put that to the back of folks minds, where Randolph's kick at the Hearts player was the games only talking point, but Higgy was right to be aggrieved then shove it in McPake's face. His header was trademark and his link up play just gets better and better. Higginbotham's goal. I'll leave it at that. Hateley and Carswell in the middle were solid and you'd have thought that was the regular partnership. Hope Law and Las can shake off the knocks, but if the other two can keep that kind of performance up, I'd like to see how it materialises. Big Hutch had Griffiths in his pocket the whole night and the service to him was cut off brilliantly. Fantastic effort. #COYW

Barnstaple's been fairly tepid tonight in comparison to most games. Think doing play by play instead of colour commentary has kept him that way tonight...

Always liked a Big Man - Wee Man dynamic up front, and with the number of goals he's scored, I think he and Skippy would have been a good double act. Plus, all of that starting XI were our players, no loanees.

Randolph Hammell Craigan Reynolds Corrigan Jennings O'Donnell Lasley McFadden McDonald Higdon Subs:Ruddy, Partridge, Quinn, Alan McCormack, Pearson, Clarkson, Porter

Ojamaa hands down. Tireless performance, just unlucky with the barks he's getting. Last season those shots would have gone in and the Club Shop would be struggling to keep stock of the mugs and tshirts. It's gonna come good for him soon and when it does I've a feeling it will keep on going. He's our highest man for assists this season and knocks his pan in every game. How folk can say his contribution is bad for the team is mental.

Cant complain about that tonight. Switched off defensively twice and never looke delivery getting back in to it after 1st goal. Made even worse by the fact that we looked like we could get in about them in the first half and do some damage. The game turned because of confidence. Rangers took the lead, got their tails up and played with a swagger, meanwhile we reverted to type and shat the bed after conceding at Ibrox. Wile our device is still a very young one, they shouldn't be constantly caught out lie, that. Lessons from Sunday weren't learned and this time we didn't react. McCall said in presser after that the individual battles were lost and implied that wholesale changes may be implemented for Celtic, which may be a dangerous game to play. While the side that crashed and burned tonight were poor, it's the same side that has kept us top of the SPL after 7 games. Tinkering may be needed to give the players a toe in the hole, but Celtic at home may not be best time to do that, just as a reaction. Disappointed but not surprised in the result. Barring another cup draw, it will be a few years before it happens a game, which is some kind of solace. Bring on Saturday.

Vote goes to Higgy for his two goals, could have had another hat trick but for the base of the post at the end of the first half. No real standouts, Ojamaa definitely made the impact that the side needed, and Randolph made a cracking save at 0-0 from Nish, so worthy of mentions but For his 5th and 6th of the season, I'll go Higdon,