5.15pm

.Another Saturday, another gubbing.  Dundee Utd won 2-1 at Fir Park this afternoon to leave us in real danger of becoming cast adrift at the bottom of the league.

Terry Butcher tried yet another tactical formation for this game.  With McFadden, Leitch and Lasley all missing he decided to go with a 4-3-3 which consisted of Ramsay, Corrigan, Partridge and Hammell at the back, Adams, Cowan and Pearson in midfield and Khemas, Ferguson and Lehmann upfront.  Dubourdeau continued in goal.

As if we don't have enough problems to seek at the moment, we proceeded to gift United a goal with less than a minute of the match played, and yet again it was more schoolboy defending which allowed Jim Hamilton a free header from around 6 yards.  Then in 24 mins it was 2-0, and again poor marking in the box gave Gunnlaugsson time to flick the ball on to Hamilton, and he steered the ball home from close range.  Absolutely nothing went our way in the first half, and our season to date was summed up just before half-time when Dirk Lehmann put the ball in the net from a Hammell free-kick, only for the goal to be disallowed as a result of a debatable offside decision.

Into the second half, and the visitors seemed content to sit on their lead.  Motherwell huffed and puffed but with very little penetration, and Gallacher in the United goal was rarely called into action.  Then in 81 mins we finally pulled a goal back when Lehmann headed home a Hammell corner.  We went all out for an equaliser after this and pinned the visitors back in their own half for the first time in the match, but United held on for a 2-1 victory.

This was our sixth consecutive league defeat, and we've now lost seven on the trot if you include the Aberdeen League Cup game.  We are clearly heading for relegation unless something is done soon to turn things around, and with two difficult away games coming up at Easter Road and Parkhead it's difficult to see where our next win (or even point) is going to come from.  In our last four matches we have played the teams who are likely to involved in the relegation issue at the end of the season, and even though three of these games have been at home we have picked up zero points. It simply isn't good enough.   

Today was similar to many other games in our recent run of defeats, in that there wasn't really a great deal between the sides, but yet some amateur defending and an inability to score goals has cost us dearly.  For me, the biggest problem area in recent weeks has been the midfield, which has simply been overrun by the opposition.  Today we had Cowan starting the game in centre midfield, and he was completely lost there (although he wasn't exactly helped by Adams and Pearson around him, who were no more than passengers).  Terry Butcher realised this midway through the first half and moved him to right-back, but the damage had been done.  We are crying out for a ballwinner in the middle of the park, as time and time again our midfielders were simply brushed aside by more physical opponents.

Perhaps our only hope now is to pray that either Falkirk or Inverness Caley Thistle win the First Division...

Team: Dubourdeau, Ramsay (Russell 59), Corrigan, Partridge, Hammell, Adams, Cowan, Pearson, Khemas (Fagan 36), Ferguson, Lehmann.

Subs not used: Woods, McDonald, Kinniburgh.

Crowd: 5,381.

Time for a new opinion poll!

Who do you blame for the club's current predicament?