10pm

Motherwell moved three points clear of Dundee Utd at the bottom of the league with a fine 2-1 win over Dunfermline at Fir Park tonight, thanks to goals from Stephen Pearson and Steven Craig.  The result means we have now beaten every team in the top six, and we were well worth the three points tonight against a very poor Pars side.

Terry Butcher made one enforced change to the team that beat Hibs, with Shaun Fagan replacing the injured Scott Leitch.  The opening stages were fairly even, with both teams seemingly taking time to adjust to the heavily sanded Fir Park pitch.  Then in 19 minutes Motherwell took the lead when Hammell's corner was headed home by Pearson at the near post with the aid of a deflection.  We went on to dominate the remainder of the first half, and Pearo missed two further glorious chances that would probably have tied the game up had they gone in.  Francois Dubourdeau had rarely been called into action, but was beaten by a long range Grondin shot just before the break which fortunately rebounded off the post.

Into the second half, and we doubled our lead almost straight away when Clarkson sent Craig through on goal, and he buried his shot behind the Pars goalkeeper for his first goal for the club.  However, the visitors pulled one back virtually straight from the restart when slack play by Cowan allowed Crawford to score from close range.  The Pars had a good spell of pressure for 15-20 mins after this, but we held on and began to work our way back into the match.  If either team was going to score again it seemed most likely to be Motherwell, and we had the ball in the net with around 10 mins to go only for the goal to be controversially disallowed for offside.  Dunfermline enjoyed a late flurry in the last few mins and Dubourdeau was called upon to make a superb save in injury time, but we held on for the victory.

The highlight of tonight's match for me was probably the performance of our young striking partnership, 17-year-old David Clarkson and 21-year-old Steven Craig, who ran the Pars defence ragged all night and caused them no end of problems.  I never thought I would hear myself say this, but credit must also go to Derek Adams for an excellent midfield shift.

Next up - Clyde in the cup.  Come on ye 'Well!

Team (3-5-2): Dubourdeau, Corrigan, Vaughan, Partridge, Cowan (Ramsay 67), Fagan, Adams, Pearson, Hammell, Clarkson (Lasley 89), Craig.
Subs not used: Woods, Khemas, Kinniburgh.

Booked: Adams.

Attendance: 3,741

Remember that the club are running free buses to Saturday's game at Broadwood.  To book seats contact Lynne McKay on 01698 333333.  The Centenary Suite at Fir Park will be open from 11am until 1.30pm to allow fans to have a drink before boarding the buses.  See you there! 

A race night is being held in the Davie Cooper Suite on Friday, Feb 28 to raise money for the Motherwell Supporters' Trust.  Doors open at 7pm and the event itself will start at 7.30pm.  Tickets priced £2.00 are available from Dave Wardrope.  There is a certain horse called www.motherwellfc.org that might be worth a flutter...

4.30pm

The game tonight is ON after the pitch passed a 4pm inspection.

2.20pm

Apparently tonight's match against Dunfemline will be subject to a 4pm pitch inspection.

Terry Butcher insists that any spare money the club had would be spent on players, NOT undersoil heating.  Ahead of tonight's match with Dunfermline, he said:
"If someone gave me a spare £250,000 tomorrow I would use it to bring in a couple of players. I'm sorry, but my first thought would not be to improve the undersoil heating."We are hardly the world's richest club and there are other things to think about.  If we had spare money it would go on a full-length synthetic pitch or using it to help bring through our young players. That is what should be important to the SPL.  Anyway, some of the flak has been over the top. We live in a cold country and games are going to be called off unless we play from March to October.  Games get postponed down south as well, you know. It's not just up here."

The club have written to the SPL to explain why Saturday's match with Celtic was postponed:
"Undersoil heating is not in the budget at the moment and we do have pitch protection.  We had technical problems with it on Saturday but it has worked well over the years and we are confident it was a one-off situation.  As far as we are concerned, we are not in breach of any regulations."

TB will be without the services of Scott Leitch, Dirk Lehmann and Richard Offiong tonight, while James McFadden serves the last of his four-game ban.  The 'Well boss added:
"It seems like an age since we last had a game but this will be difficult. I watched Dunfermline at Hibs on Saturday and they were well worthy of their win.  Craig Brewster and Stevie Crawford have been flying but Gus MacPherson is an unsung hero. He had them organised at the back and had a great game.  I'm sure this game will go ahead. The pitch looks like a giant bouncy castle and we are doing all we can to ensure what happened on Saturday is not repeated."

Maurice Malpas may well be at Fir Park for the game tonight, but he will need to wait to be officially unveiled at Terry Butcher's No 2.  George Adams is still at Fir Park while Motherwell and Rangers negotiate compensation for the remainder of his contract.  TB said:
"The club have not sorted out compensation between Rangers and until that position is resolved then we can't do anything else.  Both clubs are talking as regards compensation. It hasn't been resolved and until that is resolved then there's nothing happening and we can't say too much until then."

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