9.50pm

Last night's result: Motherwell 3, Inverness CT 1.

Motherwell recorded a comfortable win over a battling Inverness side in an entertaining game at Fir Park last night.  Unbelievably, we were 2-0 up inside 10 mins courtesy of a Clarkson finish from close range and a Porter header, but given that we seldom do things the easy way it was no surprise when ICT pulled a goal back through Cowie shortly afterwards.  However, Motherwell continued to have the upper hand, and our two goal cushion was deservedly restored shortly before the interval when Clarkson volleyed home spectacularly from a poor clearance.

Although there was no further scoring after the break, there was no shortage of incidents, with Porter crashing a shot against the crossbar before the visitors hit the woodwork themselves twice in quick succession.  We were probably fortunate to survive a late penalty shout from Inverness, but ultimately the three points were fully deserved.

The win moves us four points clear of Dundee Utd in the race for 3rd place (and the UEFA Cup spot that goes with it), still with two games in hand.  Sweet.

Team (4-3-3): Graeme Smith, Quinn, Craigan, Reynolds, Hammell, Darren Smith (Lappin 53), Lasley, Fitzpatrick, Clarkson, McCormack (McGarry 73), Porter (Jamie Murphy 89). 
Subs Not Used: Daniels, Brian McLean, Danny Murphy, Archdeacon.

Motherwell scorers: Clarkson (7, 42), Porter (10).

Booked: none.

Attendance: 4,526.

Mark McGhee's post-match comments were as follows:
"Anyone who's seen us all season might not have recognised us, but we felt we had to have a different approach.  We worked on certain things that immediately paid dividends and we got a couple of goals from it, and overall, I'm delighted.  We played a longer, more direct game and took out the element of risk in the middle by asking the two boys there to keep it really simple, and it worked for us.

"It was disappointing to lose a goal to bring it back to 2-1 as it makes it more difficult than it needed to be and keeps them in a game when, until that point, they looked as if they were going to be blown away.  Two-one unnerves us a little bit and gives them a bit of hope, but the third goal gave us a cushion and effectively killed the game off.

"This was one of our games in hand and it was important that we cashed in on that, but the important thing for us is trying to close on on the top six first and then we'll worry about where we're going to finish."

In case you're wondering, I decided not to go to the Gretna game last Saturday as I didn't fancy paying £20 to sit in my own seat, especially when I was still on a downer after the Dundee debacle the previous Monday.  However, it sounds like the 3-1 win was fully merited.  

Our match at Tannadice on Saturday, March 22 will now kick off at 12.30pm and be broadcast live on Setanta.  Obviously the telly bosses reckon this will be a crunch match in the race for a European place!

Jamie Murphy and Mark Archdeacon have both signed new contracts tying them to the club until 2011.

The reserves defeated their Aberdeen counterparts 2-0 at Shotts on Monday, with Martin Grehan and Danny Murphy on the scoresheet. Team:
Daniels, Wishart (Murray  66), Wilson, Nixon, B McLean, McPake, Slane (Martin 80), D Murphy, Maguire, McHugh (L McLean  44), Grehan 

Mark McGhee's Sunday Herald column following the Dundee defeat makes interesting reading...