5.40pm

Today's result: Motherwell 2, Hearts 0

We recorded our fourth win of the season over Hearts with a thoroughly convincing 2-0 victory at Fir Park this afternoon.  Motherwell dominated throughout, and we could even afford the luxury of a missed penalty.  No wonder the fans in the East Stand were singing "Can we play you every week?"

TB made one change from the side which drew with Hibs in midweek, with Marc Fitzpatrick replacing the injured Phil O'Donnell.

Right from the first few minutes of the game you could tell the players were up for it, and we should have taken the lead after 13 mins when McDonald was upended in the box and a penalty awarded.  Rather childishly, Jim Hamilton and Kev McBride fought over who would take the spot kick, and eventually it was Hamilton who stepped up - only to send his kick straight at the Hearts goalkeeper.  I don't think I've ever seen a worse penalty, in fact it was more of a passback than a shot on goal.  The miss could have given Hearts a lift, but instead it was Motherwell who continued to dominate and we eventually took the lead through a close range Scott McDonald effort after 25 mins.  We created numerous other chances and deservedly made it 2-0 shortly before the interval when Fitzpatrick took advantage of a poor header from Pressley to fire past Gordon.

The second half wasn't quite so one-sided, with Hearts coming back into the game more.  However we were always comfortable and Gordon Marshall had few saves of note to make.  Our best chance of the half fell to Fitzpatrick, but he mis-hit his shot wide.  With the visitors rarely threatening, we easily held on to record our first league victory of 2005.

Have to say I thought we were outstanding today, with no failures at all in the team.  The defence was particularly impressive, with Stevie Hammell probably my man of the match.  Upfront, McDonald caused the supposed International class defender Stephen Pressley no end of problems, and Jim Hamilton got over his penalty miss to have a decent game too.  Hard to believe that Hearts are above us in the league, as they were absolutely awful today.

Team (4-4-2): Marshall, Quinn, Craigan, Partridge, Hammell, Paterson (Foran 86), Fitzpatrick, Leitch, McBride, Hamilton, McDonald (Clarkson 84).
Subs not used: Corr, Wright, Fagan, Kinniburgh, Connolly

Booked: McDonald.

Attendance: 7,390.

It seems that both Dunfermline and Inverness CT contacted the club with a view to arranging a match for next Saturday, given that all three teams have a free weekend after being knocked out of the Scottish cup early on.  However for some unknown reason, Motherwell declined on both occasions, preferring to play the matches in midweek as originally scheduled.