By grabar
January 25 2009

Motherwell made it five games unbeaten on Saturday and kept their hopes of a top six place alive.

They dominated the first half and spurned the best chance of the half in ten minutes when Chris Porter rounded Olejnik only to see his shot blocked on the line by Lee Bullen. The rebound popped up for Marc Fitzpatrick who could only head it over the bar.

The gaol came in the 43^rd minute when David Clarkson's looping header from a Hammell cross left Olejnik helpless. This was only after the full back had received treatment following a shocking tackle from Kevin McBride.

The Falkirk man may have seen red if hadn't been for all the stuff in the paper this week about Patrick Cregg's sending off last week at Ibrox.

Well hit the bar in the opening minutes of the second half when Clarkson's 20 yarder clipped the top of the cross bar and bounced over. We were made to pay for this miss with a sucker punch from Falkirk at the other end.

A free kick was only half cleared to Arfield at the edge of the box and his return ball picked out Holden who smashed an unstoppable shot past Smith.

We missed two more great chances before the game finished with Jim O'Brien hitting the bar and Porter heading the rebound wide.

At the end of the game Manager Mark McGhee said, "I felt we dominated the game. We played some good stuff, especially considering the way the pitch was cutting up.

"I'm disappointed not to have won the game but satisfied with the performance.

"I felt it was a continuation of our previous games; we just didn't take our chances."

He was also asked about the heavy tackles from the Falkirk side but he played it down saying, "With the conditions, there were a lot of bouncing balls and you have got committed players out there that are going to go for it.

"That causes a few mistimed tackles but I've not got a problem with that. It was a good, competitive game."