By grabar
December 27 2008

Motherwell pulled themselves three points off the pack at the bottom of the table thanks to a Chris Porter hat trick of headers. This was a much improved performance compared to recent weeks, and much of this was down to the side the manager had picked for the game.

Motherwell pulled themselves three points off the pack at the bottom of the table thanks to a Chris Porter hat trick of headers.

His first came in the 8^th minute when he headed a Steven Hammell cross past Ryan Esson from 8 yards out. He doubled the lead in 39 minutes this time heading a Paul Quinn past Esson.

Inverness scored just before the break when Well failed to handle a Dougie Imrie corner and the ball fell kindly for Tokely to score from close range.

The early stages of the second half were nervy, but the home nerves were calmed on the 78^th minute when Porter scored again, this time nodding a Hammell free kick into the net from close range.

Inverness pulled another goal back in stoppage time when they awarded a penalty when Stephen Craigan was adjudged to have fouled Andrew Barrowman. Adam Rooney took the kick which was saved by Graeme Smith but the rebound fell kindly for the striker to score from close range.

The win brought a massive sigh of relief around Fir Park, particularly as the manager had appeared to gamble on the side he picked. Jim O'Brien was given his first start and we also saw the return of Fitzpatrick, Craigan and Clarkson with Sutton, Lasley and Malcolm all on the bench and McGarry and Murphy missing out altogether.

Maros Klimpl was in midfield and the Slovakian looked comfortable there, and we can only hope Mark McGhee can extend his loan beyond the end of the month.

The key area was the difference in quality up front, with Clarkson and Porter providing much more threat than anyone in the Inverness side. This allowed the Englishman to score our first hat trick since Jan 2004 when Clarkson bagged all three against Dundee United.

If we can take any points from our next two games with St. Mirren and Hearts we should be able to look up the table once again!