THIS is not the Motherwell of Ian St John’s day on the pitch, nor is it the Ancell Babes’ town off it, the steelworks of North Lanarkshire long since replaced by the coffee shops of Canada.
But in a week where the Well bid farewell to a man from an era now fast fading from living memory, the Steelmen delivered all three points to all but secure their Premiership status for another year.
It was a fine afternoon’s work from Graham Alexander’s men who paid tribute to St John in the most fitting of styles, a brace from Devante Cole and fine Christopher Long finish enough to see off Livingston.
“I don’t think there is a secret other than he’s a really good player,” said Alexander of Cole afterwards. “We always have a way of treating people and I think he’s responded well, I don’t know how he’s been treated in the past, I can’t really put my finger on it.
“We put him in good areas and we try to keep round pegs and round holes and Cole’s a good striker.”
The significance of the David Martindale transformation of Livingston can’t be understated but there’s a sense even he has wrung them dry of all they have to give. Livi look tired, stuck in a slumber now they ostensibly have nothing to play for and not even the gusto of their manager seems capable of waking them. Put simply, the Lions lacked bite.
This fifth league game without a win has given them a near impossible mountain to climb if they are to catch Aberdeen in fourth, while their top-six place has long since been all but secured.
How much this latest loss was down to the surprising absence of regulars such as Scott Robinson - “sick”, according to his boss - and the impotence of their replacements is something that will torment Martindale in the days to come, but it was clear depth is not something Livi have an abundance of.
Matej Poplatnik, the Slovenian striker, was one of the prime culprits, his only telling contribution coming in his own box when he foolishly barged over a bewildered Robbie Crawford to spark the game into life, but he wasn’t alone. Steve Lawson struggled, at one point playing a simple pass straight out of play to turn Martindale’s face a shade of red yet undiscovered, and Marvin Bartley couldn’t cope with the athleticism of Allan Campbell.
However, less than a minute was on the clock and Motherwell’s tails were up when one of Martindale’s more able deputies produced a sign of what was to come. With Jordan Roberts putting on the afterburners, Jack Fitzwater contrived to miscue a header to give the striker a free pass to Robby McCrorie’s goal and only a fine block from the Rangers loanee bailed out the defender.
It took some time for the Livi wound to finally open, with the game descending into a surprising lull and lacking any real quality, until Poplatnik arrived out of the blue to hand Cole a chance from the spot. With half an hour gone, he stroked it down the middle to celebrate a seventh goal of the season.
If that had come in generous circumstances, there was more than a hint of charity about his second 30 minutes later. It came from another set-piece and when Livi failed to clear their lines and the ball landed at his feet on the edge of the box, he was only too happy to oblige.
Livingston, despite forcing Liam Kelly into a fine save at the end of the first-half, looked well and truly out but Motherwell are still very much a work in progress. Barely a minute had passed from Cole’s second when elation turned to frustration as a hopeful free kick was headed in by Fitzwater to give the Lions a fighting chance they hardly deserved.
However, any talk of a comeback was well and truly put to bed when once more Livi contrived to hand Motherwell a chance on a plate and Long slotted home to seal a fitting win for the Lanarkshire men.
“I look at it on a game-by-game basis and the last five haven’t been good enough,” said Martindale. “This is the same group who went 14 games unbeaten with ten clean sheets and it looks like we would struggle to keep a clean sheet right now.
“The boys have to find that inner confidence and quickly.
“We need to defend our box better and do the basics better.”
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