MOTHERWELL FC: PIES, PRESSROOMS AND PASSES

MOTHERWELL FC: PIES, PRESSROOMS AND PASSES.

So, week 2 of being a match day reporter for the glorious www.motherwellfc.co.uk found me taking a jaunt down to Kilmarnock. I'd only ever been to Rugby Park once before, as a teen to watch Scotland play Estonia.

My lasting memories of that day are the torrential rain, sitting in the steep, steep stand behind the goal, and a car knocking me off balance as I left the ground. I was hoping for some slightly more positive feedback on this occasion.

Another roasting Saturday for summer time football, I travelled with Twitter maestro Graham Barnstaple in his car-come-oven. We chatted about the impending game, last weeks performance, a bit about "minority sports" and other general football chit chat. Being the first time we'd properly had a chance to chat as part of the Well Media team, it was cool to see that any strangeness was put to the side over a common factor.

As we arrived at Rugby Park, the hotel across the road was a hive of activity. One side was full of kilted, tuxedoed and general wedding clothing, while the other was sunburt and wrapped in blue and White stripes. My immediate thought was that Elaine would kill me, if we had our wedding on a matchday at Fir Park!

We collected our Press Passes, where despite saying clearly on the card that Scottish Journalist ID was required, saying only our surnames sufficed. The press room at Killie is not dissimilar to that at Fir Park, the main difference being that there was someone manning the refreshments.

After a couple of cups of tea, the teamsheets were handed out. The big story for us Well reporters was thy Higdon was out and McHugh was in. The confidence we had in getting a result from a tight game dropped, as it meant that last week's picture perfect performance, couldn't be replicated. That's no disservice to Wee Bob, as he gave a decent account of himself on only his 4th SPL start.

It just meant that our gameplan which worked so well against Inverness was out the window. With no

Imposing target man to bring Humphrey and Murphy in to play, the passing on the deck had to be precise. Killie had been talking in the papers about how Kenny Shiels wants them playing like Barcelona. With two teams looking to pass the ball as much as possible, it was inevitable they would cancel one another out.

Without The Don, we weathered an early onslaught and should have done better from the number of corners we won. Hammell's deliveries were pretty much spot on, but only Heid Hutchinson came close. Kilmarnock look to have a decent winger in James Dayton. He and Hammell had a good battle on the left. Much like Jim O'Brien though, Dayton likes to go down if he's not getting past someone. It worked when JOB did it for us and I'm not complaining, but (and I hate to quote Rio Ferdinand) Stay On Your Feet!

Nicky Law was once again the instigator of most of our attacking play. He loves to jink in and around the box to play others in and set up Murphy and Humphrey for some decent efforts. Indeed, the best chance of the match fell to him, but a good block from Kroca denied him either a goal or an assist for McHugh.

In the past few seasons, we have been blessed with some top notch keepers in Ruddy and Randolph. Kilmarnock can say the same about Cammy Bell. Although there's not a lot of competition, I'd say apart from McGregor, he's the best Scottish keeper around at the minute.

His saves from McHugh and Jennings clarified that for me. I'm really surprised that Celtic haven't gambled on him in their hunt for a goalie. I'd imagine even Aberdeen, with their good old glory days and even older management, could have put up a decent bid as a replacement for Clangers Langfield due to his illness. Anyway, Cammy Bell, top keeper.

Randolph, in the middle of our goal, was no spectator in this game, making a number of comfortable, but still very vital saves. A low drive from Dayton which he got down sharply to was probably the pick of the bunch.

The game finished 0-0, in what I described at the time as "the most anodyne end to end match I'd ever seen". It wasn't as pleasant as the previous week, but was more pleasant than the hefty thump Hutchinson's cherries took from blocking a Silva daisy cutter. According to his tweets, he's still trying to get them back!

Two mini Killie Pies to the good, I travelled home happy that another point and another clean sheet had kept us top of the league for the second week in a row. I never look forward to games versus Hearts, but with all that's gone on down Gorgie this week, it's added a little spice to the fixture. Their 4-1 win over Paksi in Paulo Sergio's 1st game may be an indication of things to come, or it could well be their Flamutari.

No doubt it will be an interesting game and will be one I miss as I am Northern Ireland bound for the week. Im also missing the St Mirren game, where no doubt Higdon will return to haunt his former employers. It's not often we have players who do that, more that former Well players come back and bite us. Townsley, Delomeaux, McDonald, McCulloch and no doubt Sutton this Sunday. In fact scratch Sutton, the game's not on telly so he won't do the damage.

I'd be happy with 4 points from these 2 games and possibly a striker coming in while I'm away. With Higdon carrying a knock and Murphy possibly on his way at some point, we need someone as a plan b.

Anyways, cheers for reading, and next week you'll have my thoughts on Northern Ireland v Faroe Isles!

Up The Well!!