5.20pm

Yesterday's result: Motherwell 2, Dunfermline 1.

Yesterday's win over the Pars moves us off the bottom of the league, and in fact we're only five points behind Rangers now!  The victory was thoroughly deserved and far more emphatic than the narrow scoreline suggests.  The first half in particular was one way traffic towards the Dunfermline goal, but we had to wait until the 61st minute for the opener, courtesy of Scott McDonald.  It was completely against the run of play when the visitors equalised shortly afterwards with their first shot on target all afternoon, and the goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of us slightly as we allowed Dunfermline to come more and more into the game.  Having said that, it would still have been a travesty had the Pars taken anything from the match, and justice was done six minutes from time when David Clarkson bagged his first goal of the season to give Motherwell all three points.

Ricky's report of the game is available here.

Maurice Malpas' post match comments were as follows:
"In front of our own fans, I am expecting us to win most games if not all.  Teams will come here to frustrate us but your home results determine how you finish in the league.  If we cannot win at home, we will struggle to be in this league.  That is a couple of victories back to back with a great performance against Hearts which I thought should have been a victory.  We have to take the positives from that.

"I was delighted with how we played as a team and am delighted to be off the bottom of the league.  The players deserve a lot of credit, they have taken a fair bit of stick.  Now we have a basis and there is a bit more belief in the team.

"It was the usual story losing a goal, they got a big boost. We got a bit edgy, but the players dug in and got a goal.  Then it was a case of seeing out the game, which we did reasonably comfortably."

Motherwell match winner David Clarkson said after yesterday's game:
"The team are doing well - it's great the boys are winning.  As long as the team are doing well, I'm happy.

"It's good to get on the scoresheet. I'll get a better confidence from it and hopefully take that into the next couple of games or whenever I come on as a sub again.

"I have just got to keep working hard.  Everybody wants to play but I don't think it matters who scores or plays as long as the team do well.  Scott scored as well. Him and Calum are doing well and working hard together.

"We are off the bottom of the league so it's a big relief for all of us. We have got a couple of hard games but we have just got to deal with that - everybody has got to play them."

Ross McCormack is undergoing medical tests after being floored by a virus for the second time since the start of the season.  MM is quoted as saying:
"We'll just have to wait and see what the doctors say.  He's not been feeling well the last few days, so we have sent him back to the doctors for tests.  It's disappointing for him. He has never really had a chance to recover.  The type of virus he did have meant we were not able to push on with his fitness."

Stephen Craigan won his 25th and 26th caps for Northern Ireland during the recent international break in their games against Denmark and Latvia.

The reserves got back to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over their Dundee Utd counterparts at Fir Park last midweek, with David Clarkson on target for the 'Well second string.  Team:
Smith, Murray, Kinniburgh, Nixon, Soutar, Connolly, McBride, Fitzpatrick, Clarkson, McCormack (A Donnelly), Coakley. 
Subs not used: Coutts, Forbes, Murphy, Brownlie.

DEFINITELY time for a new opinion poll

How much longer should we give Maurice Malpas?