Ya Bezzer!

Last away trip of the season but our away form in the second half of the season has been pretty poor. I don't think his a particularly good St. Johnstone team so we could beat them but looking at the form I'd say we are a bit short of being favourites. At least the weather (probably) won't be as bad as the last time we were up there. Even though we won it's still by a mile my least favourite day of the season!

Scott was one of our better players in the 2nd half but let's face it Turnbull is the only midfielder that drives into the box. That's why he scores every week and everyone else is on 0, 1 or 2 goals for the season. It's also why I felt we really missed Hastie yesterday. Not saying he should play now that his future isn't here, just that we lack that type of player.

My Dumbarton supporting friend says he's way above that level.

Turnbull was the difference again....even they he was being doubled up on at times.

McHugh, by McHugh standards, was OK today but it's a bit of a stretch to say he was our best player. But even though he wasn't too bad today he still gives the ball away far too often and is far too slow for this level of football. The game was set up quite well for him today as he didn't have runners going by him and St. Mirren filling up areas rather than pressing the ball. We are a better team with Gorrin/Hastie than we are with McHugh/Cadden.

St. Mirren came for a point and got a point. Very different game from last week with St. Mirren sitting in and closing everything down. There wasn't many clear cut chances in the match but I thought there was actually some decent performances today even if it wasn't a pretty game. Agree the shape of the team got a bit messy towards the end with the substitutions but not defending balls into the box has been a problem all season.

Carl McHugh back in the side? <<<SHUDDER>>>

I think what has happened is that the linesman has flagged it for the ball being over the bye line. Didn't look like it to me. So two wrong decisions have added up to a correct one.

He might have needed the linesman to bail him out and the reason he's reversed his decision might even have been wrong but ultimately it wasn't a penalty and he didn't give it. Clancy lost control of the match and made some inconsistent decisions but any furor over the penalty is redundant since it should never have been given in the first place.

Just a wee stat. I make it that 18 of our last 23 goals have come from academy players.

Few good performances - Ariyibi, Campbell, but it has to be Turnbull doesn't it?

I actually thought the referee got the penalty decisions right today. Ariyibi went to ground then reached out and touched the ball, was definite penalty for me, and stupid from Ariyibi. On the other hand Turnbull was pretty cute but he's basically flicked the ball off the hand of the Dundee defender. There was no intent or deliberate hand ball on the part of the Dundee defender. Overall the game was highly entertaining and basically a bit mental. It's hard to judge the game because it was so open and we've made one of the worst teams in the last 20 years look like they could score at every opportunity. Then on the other hand we've responded several times and won it when we might have sat back and defended. Let's all just agree that Turnbull is incredible. Oh, and Gorrin is a far superior player to McHugh technically but I've criticised McHugh for rashness and his discipline so it's only fair I do the same with Gorrin. The guy needs to screw the head. He had about 4 dodgy tackles in the first 8 minutes and I predicted his red card long before it happened. I'd like Gorrin to be here next season but he needs to cut out the rash studs up challenges. So much happened today but it's worth pointing out the magnificent save Gillespie made at 3-3 (I think!)

They were both here before so why not now? I think Carson would be a hard sell giving his recent medical condition and it would be folly for us to allow Gillespie to leave and then depend on Carson. The beginning of last season Carson was first choice and Gillespie was the back up. No reason for a change other than for the two goalkeepers to change roles.

You see it all the time and it's incredible to me. A young player gets one start and "he's not good enough" while a player with 30 odd league appearances, who really hasn't been good enough over a season, gets the nod. Maguire, Livingstone and Scott should have got these 5 games and then you analysis it and see where you are. They might not be good enough but you don't judge it off one match and based on last week I'd have a hard time with anyone telling me we would have been better with Main playing, or we suffered due to having selected Scott. Let's not be dull, conservative and settle for the well worn path to mediocrity. The young guys need to learn the game and here's a chance for them to do it. Not doing so is development time wasted. Given the huge rebuild required in the summer it should be inconceivable for us to squander it as we have in the past. Where did that get us again?

Good news for Carson but Gillespie has the shirt now. Carson will have to bide his time as Gillespie did.

To put it in perspective in the past two seasons the team relegated had 9 more points than Dundee at the same stage in the season. Both Ross County and Inverness had 27 points at game 35. Dundee have 18. There's been seasons when teams have finished bottom on 37 points.

As I said last week if we can show one of our fringe young players can compete over the next 5 (now 4 matches) we'll have saved a squad player wage and still have a chance to finish 7th.

I was about 3 years old back then but according to Neil Brown's index of post war Scottish league players Vic Davidson scored 19 league goals in 95 appearances .

I'm pretty sure Stevie Kirk was actually playing as a forward in the seasons, two off the top of my head, when he got into double figures.

I would have loved Hastie to be here next season but putting the claret and amber specs aside Jake Hastie can have a nice house paid off, have a good standard of life and have a big whack in the pension scheme/life savings regardless of him ever making an appearance for Rangers. And even if it's a worst case scenario for him, he'll still be young enough to get another shot at at least a Motherwell level football career. As much as I wish it wasn't it's a no brainer for him.

Also James Forrest 28+2 (11) David Turnbull 22+3 (10)

I agree but I find it irksome that a guy can be in the best form of his club career with a contract running out and then revert to absolute shite as soon as £65,000 goes in the bank.

Grimshaw won me over with his post new year form but he's been shite again since he signed his contract. Tait has also been poor in recent weeks. Looks tired and could do with being given a rest.

Wasn't his best match but he was the difference once again.

He did but probably his biggest playing contribution to Motherwell was a match towards the end of his Aberdeen days. We absolutely pummeled Aberdeen but Derek Stillie had an amazing match and saved everything. Then right at the end of the match Big Eck had a marvelous backwards header into his own net for the win. Probably someone with a better memory will tell me it was actually 1-1 or something.