8.20pm

Today's Sun reported that Championship side Wolves are close to agreeing a £600,000 deal for Scott McDonald.  Maurice Malpas responded by saying:
"We have heard nothing at all from any club.  We suffered enough from this at the start of the season and it definitely affected Scott's performances. I can assure that this won't happen this time.  This will be the only time I will talk about it until any club puts in a written offer that matches our valuation.  I see players being quoted at £1m in the papers, and it will take this amount, at least, before we would let Scott go.  We have our own agenda, as we want to move up the table and Scott is a big part of that push.  He is a valuable member of our squad and we will not let anyone unsettle him in the run up to the transfer window opening."

Malpas also confirmed that Shelbourne winger Richie Baker was on trial at Fir Park this week, but added:
"It has been difficult to assess him given the poor training conditions, but we will have a talk to his agent next week about what we think the next step needs to be."

Scott McDonald was in the news earlier this week when he received a trophy from the Bank of Scotland after scoring the Scottish Premier League's 5,000th goal during Motherwell's 4-2 win over Falkirk on Saturday.  Skippy said it was nice to be recognised for something other than scoring the goals that denied Celtic the title on the final day two seasons ago, and added:
"It's a great feeling and the attention has been nice," McDonald said at an awards ceremony marking the goal.  The trophy will hold a special memory for me and it is something I can show my kids."

McDonald submitted a transfer request in the summer as he felt a move would enhance his international prospects, and he added:
"I've said all along that I'm a Motherwell player until someone else says so.  Obviously I've made my feelings known and it's up to other people.  I'm just happy to be here. I'm playing again, scoring goals and enjoying my football and I just want to help the team climb the table.  Hopefully we can get some consistency, but we just have to take it one game at a time, starting with this weekend against Inverness."

The reserves thumped their Aberdeen counterparts 5-1 at Fir Park on Tuesday afternoon, with Calum Elliot, Ross McCormack, Darren Smith (2) and Adam Coakley among the goals.  Good to see that Martyn Corrigan managed to get a full 90 minutes under his belt.  Team:
G. Smith, Corrigan, Sideserf, Connolly, Donnelly, McCormack (Wilson), Fitzpatrick, Elliot (Murphy), Coakley (Murray), D. Smith. 
Subs not used: Martin, Forbes.

Richie Foran's latest Daily Record column is available here.