By Paul Marshall
August 4 2003

James McFadden will not take a first team place in the Motherwell side for granted with Alex Burns, Steven Craig and David Clarkson all fighting for a starting place in the squad. James who is still short of match fitness after recovering from injury made his comeback in Saturday's friendly with Fulham.




Clarkson and Burns


He praised fellow striker David Clarkson who broke into the team last season depsite being only 17 years old. He said " David did very well last season and shown what he has to offer. It is good competition to have three players fighting for two places up front. "


James also went on to praise veteran hitman Alex Burns who got on the scoresheet twice on his return to Fir Park. He told Teletext " I have been watching Alex in pre-season and it is easy to see he is a quality professional who is doing really well. He is a clever player. "






Meanwhile Terry Butcher was happy with debut boy Barry John Corr's performance against Fulham " He has just come into the team and doesn't yet know his team-mates. He also has things to work on in his game, " he told the Evening Times.


" He had a debut against a Premiership side with top quality strikers, anybody would have been a little bit nervous, so he did very well considering. "