Today's result: Motherwell 2, Hamilton Accies 0

An easy win over our Lanarkshire rivals saw Motherwell move up to 3rd place in the league table.  The scoreline doesn't really tell the full story, as we could easily have won far more comfortably against a desperately poor Accies side.

Motherwell dominated right from the the off and passed up several opportunuties to open the scoring, but we had to wait until 37 mins for the opening goal.  Bob Malcolm played in a free kick round the Accies wall which was headed home by Chris Porter.  The visitors' only real chance came shortly before the interval, but the second half was all Motherwell and Porter was denied when his header came back off the inside of the post.  However, the ex-Oldham striker made no mistake shortly afterwards when a suspiciously offside looking Clarkson crossed for him to prod home.  The second goal killed the match stone dead, with Hamilton never looking like getting back into the game.

I don't think today's result was ever in any doubt, and our centre halves plus goalkeeper will seldom have an easier day at the office.  The strange thing is that I've seen us play a whole lot better than that, which perhaps just underline how poor Hamilton were.

Team: (4-4-2): Graeme Smith, Quinn (McGarry 85), Malcolm, Reynolds, Hammell, Clarkson, Lasley, Hughes, Fitzpatrick, Porter, Sutton (Murphy 71). 
Subs Not Used: Nielsen, Darren Smith, O'Brien, Connolly, Page.

Booked: Malcolm, Lasley, Hammell.

Motherwell scorer:  Porter (37), (66).

Attendance: 6,205.

Ian Stillie has resigned from his position as Chief Executive at Fir Park.  Can only be a good thing if you ask me, as the day-to-day running of the club is an absolute embarrassment, with the relationship between MFC and the fans probably at an all time low.

I've reproduced a letter below which was sent from John Boyle to Rangers supporters club members.  To be honest, his pandering to the Old Firm now makes me want to vomit.

Subject: Pricing initiative

Dear Sirs

I am writing to you with regard to the forthcoming fixture when Motherwell host Rangers at Fir Park on Wednesday 12 November 2008.

You may have seen in the newspapers that Motherwell have undertaken a significant pricing initiative for this game. Rangers supporters attending the match will be charged £15 per adult and £10 for concessions and children under 12. To this end, in addition to the South Stand, we are allocating the Davie Cooper Stand exclusively for Rangers fans and, more particularly, those fans who wish to bring children so that we can create a family friendly atmosphere in that section of the ground.

This is a bold new initiative on our part and an acknowledgement of the considerable support the Rangers community have extended by attending Fir Park over the years. We are also mindful that perhaps we at Motherwell, along with many other SPL clubs, have been straining the loyalty of Rangers fans by continually charging premium pricing for these games.

With all this in mind and taking account of the current dire economic situation affecting us all, we believe that a new look at ticket pricing could be adopted. We would hope that by radically reducing our pricing for this game (for example an adult bringing a child would probably have had to pay £50 in previous seasons and can now gain entry for £25), we can encourage more Rangers fans to come along to Fir Park. We would hope that the increased numbers would go some way towards deflecting the lost revenue which Motherwell would otherwise have earned.

Could I ask you to communicate with all of your members pointing this out and do everything possible to encourage a large contingent of Rangers fans to turn up for the match. The more fans that turn up will encourage us to extend this initiative to other fixtures in the future.

We understand from discussions with Rangers that the ticket allocation and payment process for the game has already taken place, however, in this instance, Rangers has agreed that any remaining tickets will be sold on a first come first served basis to members of the SPL away scheme through the hotline on 0871 702 1972 or in person at the ticket centre. Supporters Clubs can request additional tickets by emailing the RSC department. Such tickets will be on sale from Wednesday 29 October.

We look forward to seeing you all at Fir Park on Wednesday 12 November.

Kindest regards

JOHN BOYLE
Chairman – Motherwell FC