Well 4 Europe

Big decisions for McCall to make. Carswell and Humphrey will keep their places I'd imagine. Cummins is still a young lad so I wouldn't be suprised to see him make way(after a promising showing today he'll get plenty more oppurtunity's no doubt). However Page who was many's MOTM today is 22 and out of contract at the end of the season. If he's dropped I would see it as highly unfair on the lad and a sure sign he's on his way out. Dropping him would destroy the confidence he visibly gained througout today's performance and I feel he more than merits another start next week. Never put a foot wrong. He's never really had a fair crack of the whip and thought he took his chance today with both hands. However with Hutch, Clancy and possibly Craigan back it's going to be a difficult task for McCall next week to pick his defensive pairing. Hutch and Clancy were in pretty good form themselves in recent weeks. Given the importance of next weeks game some might also see it as a risk to stick with Page. However I'd say Page should be in possesion of one of the shirts and it should be him and one other next week...

I thought Brines let Considine away with murder. Also how many fouls did Fallon commit? At least five and not so much as talking too. Higdon himself gets booked generally for a lot less.

Page for me, outstanding. As they say, one swallow doesn't make a summer but perhaps some have written Page off too early...

From Adam Cummins twitter page.

Devlin's been back and playing with the U 19's for the last few months. Not that he'll be playing mind as I think he's a fullback. Unless we plan on moving Hateley to centre half.... Which I seriously hope McCall doesn't consider.

I'm sorry but Higdon at centreback just doesn't cut it for me. He has height I get that but what else does he have going for him at centre half? We know he's not the most mobile, doesn't strike me as a great reader of the game and his tackling is generally pretty horrific. Why would you want him anywhere near centre defence. I know people want experience next to Page but Higdon has no experience at centre defence so what advantage do you get from playing him there? I'd much rather give a chance to a young natural CB who's been trained and played in the that position for years and is accustomed to the role than sticking a Striker in there. What does Higdon know about defensive positioning, keeping a defensive line and working in tandem with a partner etc. Give the young boy Murray(who's 6 foot anyway accoriding to the fishal) or whoever else is the best young prospect a chance to play alongside Page. These young boys need a chance and he might be another Bobby Donnelly or Willie Kinniburgh type. Or he could end up like Quinn, Reynolds, Hutchinson or Saunders. Personally I'd like to see one of the young boys given a chance. The only advantage I can see playing Higgy at CB is for Aberdeen as we'd be playing our top goalscorer in defence...

Hutch is suspended. EDIT and Clancy.

Massive game next week, wanted to get some things out the way but didn't want to clog up the already busy match thread from today. Clancy out, Hutch out, Lasley out and potentially Craigan out. What happened with Craggs anyway? Teams looking pretty stretched. For me Humphrey must start, Murphy should be on the bench. I would also hope Carswell comes into the midfield instead of moving Law inside, don't think it really works. Sadly I can see that hapening. If Craigan's injury is a bad one fuck knows who plays centre half. Page didn't look too clever today and it's looking likely that he could be the experienced one in the centre of defence next week. Who's the most promising u 19's centre half? He'll be on the bench at least whoever he is. I would go Randolph Hateley Page Craigan/youth player Hammell Humphrey Jennings Carswell Law Ojamma Higdon Need to protect that defence which is why I feel we need two ball winners in there and can't afford to put Law or Hateley into a midfield two with Jennings. It would also allow us to be flexible and let Law drift in to make a midfield three and Ojamaa can cover out wide to turn it into a 451 when we're not in possesion. Really hope Craggs is back as Page will need all the help he can get. Got to learn our lessons from today and stop pumping long balls, get it wide try and strech their defence. Be patient and don't force it. Big 3 points at stake now and with an inexperienced looking defence we need to be on the front foot and our forward players need to have more of an imact than they had today. Hopefully we up our game and can snatch 3 points. Onwards and upwards..

Page lost his man for the second goal. Hateley went with his runner who went across goal, Page's man(Fallon) pulled of him into the space at the backpost and Page lost him and got caught under the ball.

A saving grace after a defeat is this place. Fuck me, some people. I'm as frustrated as anyone but some of the comments are ridiculous. -"Team lacks bottle when it matters" what a load of shite. How about the QF and SF last year. The two times we beat Saints this year to keep them at bay. Beating Hearts 3 scud at Fir Park when they were right on our tails. Or beating Hibs last week to cement our advantage in third. -"Ojamaa overated" I can think of a few players we have who are overated, he's not one of them. He was the only who looked like doing anything till Humphrey came on. - "Hateley been abysmal all season" WTF? The boy's been a model of consistency for almost his entire Motherwell career and this season has 4 goals and 8 or 9 assists. There's a reason he's played every game since he's came to Motherwell and that Gannon, Brown & McCall have picked him everyweek. He was poor today but the abuse he was getting was well over the top. We were poor today but calm the fuck down. The team appears to have become victims of their own success. Yes we all wanted to win but we're still having a fantastic season. We're Motherwell and we have no devine right to win these games, under McCall more often than not we've risen to the occasion in the big games. Aberdeen swamped the midfield and we couldn't play through them so we resorted to pumping long balls until we brought the Humph on( a must start next week). Thought McCall should have changed it sooner but even though we were fairly ganting today a wee bit of luck we could have nicked a replay near the end. Oh and why the fuck were folk giving a standing ovation to Lasley? He let us and his teamates down badly with a horrific challenge and he gets applause for that. Fuck that. And he now puts himelf out of several games for the run in. Crazy. Randolph, Law & Humphrey get pass marks. Clancy and Ojamaa were not as bad as others. Big reaction needed for next week. Humphrey, Carswell both need to come in for me. Can't afford to let today ruin our leage form, got to dust ourselves down, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and move on.

Randolph by a distance, kept us in it.

Motherwell 3 - 0 Aberdeen Play like we can and I think we'll have too much for them.

Close fought game but fairly comfortable win. Poor first half, Daley rightly hooked(who says McCall doesn't make subs early enough?) and Humphrey made a huge difference in the 2nd. Not much in it but always felt we were more likely. Goalie made an arse of it but it was a good cross by Henrik and Higdon got across his man and got his shot away. He gambled at the front post and got his reward, I'm a big Higgy fan but if there's one thing I want to see him do more is to get across his man at the front post. The second was great wing play from Humphrey, showed great feet to prove he's got more than just pace as some claim and did well to pick out Ojamaa. And well what can you say? On that ptich and the way the ball was bobbling I was expecting to be catching the ball in the stand but what a hit, no chance for the keeper this time. Jenno & Humphrey had really good games. The defence on the whole was solid except from a few dodgy moments, particulary from Hutch. Wee Henrik probably had one of his poorest games by his high standards but still ended up with a goal and an assist. Fairly average performance overall but we done enough and grinded out the win. Another clean sheet too. It's just what the top teams do.

Thought Jennings had a really good game and Humphrey made a big difference in the 2nd half. However even though he wasn't at his best, a goal and an assist it has to be be wee Henrik.

We only need one chance to nick a goal. Frustrate them and when they try and force it hit them on the break. It's 0-0 at half time, I think we would have all taken that at the start of the game. Keep it up.

Just give it a fucking go Motherwell. No one's expecting us to win but at least put up a fight in Glasgow this time, we're good enough to make a game of it. Even if we lose as long as we can say they put up a good fight I'll be content.

Now you know you're wrong Steelboy.

Eddie, you forgot my personal favourties.

One winner, the big man.. EDIT- Also good to see the entire crowd get behind him which you could see he fully appreciated. Great display again from a cracking centre forward.

Lasley out, Humphrey in.

So Jack Leitch has been playing for our u'19's this season at the age of 16. Is that not a bit younger than the average squad member? I take it he's a good prospect then?

How he escaped the three odd Hearts player around him to set up the third I'll never know. Also loved when he was stuck in the corner flag, two defenders on his back and he done a wee Cruyff turn and left the two Hearts boy's standing there confused before he was brought down. He actually got a standing ovation for it, just sublime. A joy to watch.

They were all brilliant. I gave it to Law though, the attention on Ojamaa has freed him up recently and that's 3 in 5 for him. He could have had a hat trick with a bit better luck and a bit more composure. He blazed two good chances over from Ojamaa rebounds at the start of each half. He was unlucky when he tried to lob McDonald from 25 yards and hit the roof of the net. He was even more unlucky when he cracked the bar from 20 yards with a peach of a strike five mins later. He eventually got his goal and deservedly so, kept making runs beyond the forwards, kept plugging away and finished it brilliantly. Always in space and looking to create, thought he was great today. As were the whole team.

His movement is terrific, it was outstanding at times today. He was dragging their defenders all over the place, sadly we didn't look like using the space he created that often. Still involved in our two best chances, good ball in for Higdon and I thought he'd won it at the end with his swivel and shot, only denied by a great save.