6.30pm

Looking back to last week's defeat by Celtic, Pat Nevin said:
"There are so many positives we can take out of our performance against Celtic and the youngsters did extremely well.  The team is growing in confidence and that showed in the younger players, especially with the fans getting right behind them.  This makes a difference because barracking them will only set them back months in terms of progress and confidence.

"No one at the club was surprised by Greg Strong's finish as he always plays upfront in the five-a-side games at training.  Defensively, we didn't give Celtic too many chances and Greg, as well as big Karl Ready, looked as though they enjoyed themselves up against Hartson and Larsson.  The player I felt sorry for was Eddie Forrest as he had a tremendous game at the back and didn't deserve to give away the penalty.

"It would have been interesting to see if we would have been given a penalty like that at Celtic Park and it was a tough one to take as we deserved something from the game.  Rarely have I seen Celtic's defence looking so shaky and the players deserve plenty of credit for the way they performed.  Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to see our penalty claim on the TV as I didn't get home until 1am on Sunday and I've been busy since, but Keith is not the type of player to go down for nothing and he was adamant it was a penalty."

Looking forward to our trip to Dens Park at the weekend, Nevin added:
"The players have responded well since Billy left and the belief is starting to return.  Dundee are a difficult side to play, but if the players can produce the type of performance they did against Celtic then we can do it."

9.15am

John Philliben has revealed the he was sacked by Motherwell yesterday only hours after taking first-team training.  He said:
"I'm not happy. I thought being a Motherwell man and having been associated with the club for 12 years might have meant something. It came as a shock but the directors have made a decision and I have to accept that.

"Mio and myself took training together in the morning and then later on at about 3.00pm Pat called us in to tell us the news. We never got the chance to speak to any of the players.

"I'm really disappointed, although I always had in the back of my mind that if a new manager was going to come in then he would be likely to want his own men but we had hoped to be kept on."

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