By grabar
December 20 2008

Motherwell are now level on points with Hamilton at the bottom after this latest defeat at New Douglas Park this afternoon. This was Well’s fifth straight defeat and they have now been dragged into a relegation struggle. This now puts pressure on Manager Mark McGhee to turn things round. The side was weakened by an illness to Stephen Hughes but the midfield looked a strange one with Murphy and McGarry on the flanks and Quinn and Lasley in the middle. We looked reasonably bright in the early stages but as usual couldn’t find a way to score the first goal. This was despite Murphy heading just over and Porter pulling a magnificent save from Thomas Cerny. But our frailties at the back were exploited by the Accies when a simple flick on by Mensing split the defence wide open and James McCarthy ran through to plant the ball behind Smith. After the break Keith Lasley showed why we have seen no goals from midfield this season as he mishit a shot into the ground from a Murphy cross when he should at least have got it on target. Midway through the half Accies doubled their lead and put the game beyond us, Reynolds failed to deal with a clearance and once again McCarthy had all the time in the world to pick his spot past Smith. A couple of minutes after the goal we did have a penalty shout when Sutton was dragged to the ground but ref
Brines was miles behind play and couldn’t give anything. Despite much possession there was no hope of a consolation goal as the finishing from Porter and Quinn was lamentable. We now have two big games coming up and Mark McGhee has to earn his corn as six points are a must from Inverness and St. Mirren.