5.20pm

Motherwell slipped to yet another defeat, our SIXTH in succession, when Kilmarnock won 1-0 at Fir Park this afternoon courtesy of an injury time goal.

Steve Woods was finally dropped, with Francois Dubourdeau taking his place between the sticks.  Scott Leitch missed out through suspension and both James McFadden and Keith Lasley were injured, so in came Ramsay and McDonald.

In what was a poor game between two very mediocre sides, Motherwell probably just edged it although neither side created many clear goalscoring opportunities.  In the first half, our best efforts were a long range shot from Adams that went just wide, and an attempt from Ramsay that appeared to deceive Killie goalkeeper Marshall before he recovered just in time to prevent a goal.  There was little change to the pattern of play in the second half, although Dubourdeau pulled off a couple of decent saves to keep the scoreline blank.  Probably our best opportunity came in the 74th minute, when a wildly mis-hit shot from substitute Stevie Ferguson flashed across the penalty box, and Lehmann headed just over the bar from around 12 yards.  Then into injury time, Pearson conceded a stupid free-kick on the edge of the box, and Killie's Boyd fired the ball under Dubourdeau to give the visitors an underserved three points.

Things seem to be going from bad to worse for us this season.  Just when it seemed we had at least stopped the rot of several successive defeats by taking a point today, Killie's injury-time winner completely knocked the stuffing out of us, and one can only wonder about the confidence level of the players as they trooped off the park at the end.  It simply isn't happening for us at the moment, and unless things are turned around soon we are going to end up in the First Division.  Next week's game with Dundee Utd looks as though it will make or break our season, and the consequences of a defeat are unthinkable.

Team (4-4-2): Dubourdeau, Ramsay, Corrigan, Partridge, Hammell, Cowan (Russell 86), McDonald, Adams, Pearson, Lehmann (Ferguson 66), Kemas.
Subs not used: Woods, Fagan, Kinniburgh.

Booked: McDonald.

Time for a new opinion poll!

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