MOTHERWELL took their first step towards a trophy which has eluded them since 1991 after a hard-fought 2-1 win against Championship side Morton.
Dougie Imrie’s outfit pushed The Steelmen all the way and the winning goal didn’t come until the 119th minute of the match.
After a quiet opening ten minutes, it was the home side who took control of the game with the pace of Connor Shields in particular causing problems.
Jack Hamilton was forced to tip the striker’s low drive wide for a corner and was inches away from a tap-in after Jordan Roberts’ knockdown.
Morton held their own though even if they didn’t create anything clear-cut in the first half with the presence of striker Gozie Ugwu troubling the Motherwell centre-backs.
Graham Alexander began to look increasingly agitated in the second half as Morton gained a foothold with his side’s crosses continually coming to nothing.
Substitute Kevin van Veen spurned a chance to put his team ahead after he was put through one v one against Hamilton who produced a terrific save.
Dougie Imrie’s side would eventually take the lead in extra time after Ugwu put through substitute Robbie Muirhead on the counter attack who cut inside and finished brilliantly into the top left-hand corner.
The Ton’s lead didn’t last long though as Ross Tierney was fouled in the box and van Veen coolly converted the penalty to score his 8th goal of the campaign.
Morton were holding strong but a goal line clearance fell the way of Liam Donnelly at the edge of the box whose brilliant strike won the game for The Steelmen.
Motherwell manager Graham Alexander said: “I thought we played well and created chances. We dominated the goalscoring chances but we knew they’d be hard to break down.
“We knew time was against us but we asked the team not to panic because we felt we could get back in the game.
“I couldn’t have had a go at them if we hadn’t got back into it.”
Morton manager Dougie Imrie felt his side were hard done by not to come away with anything.
He added: “I thought to a man we were miles ahead of them. I need to see the penalty back but at the time I thought it was soft.
“I’m just gutted for my players because I thought they were immense today.”
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