5.00pm

We won 2-0 against Hearts this afternoon, and it could (and should) have been a lot more. Yes, you DID read that correctly!

This was day and night compared to recent performances, and the team displayed more passion and fight this afternoon than they have done all season. Our caretaker managers, John Philliben and Miodrag Krivokapic, not surprisingly made a couple of changes to the team. In came Lasley and Nicholas and out went Strong and Martinez, who wasn't even on the bench. We started the game in a 4-4-2 formation, with Kelly and Elliott upfront.

Right from kick-off you could sense that the players were right up for this game, and the first half was completely dominated by Motherwell. We created chance after chance, and could easily have been 2-0 up early on but David Kelly managed to miss two complete sitters. Stuart Elliott also went close, but just when you thought the breakthrough was never going to come David Kelly made amends with a brilliant finish after Stephen Pearson had put him through on goal.

The second half was more of the same, with Hearts rarely seen as an attacking force. More opportunuties were passed up, but then Elliott sealed the win when he headed past Niemi with twenty minutes to go. Hearts came into the game a bit more after this, but we comfortably played out time for a deserved victory.

In my opinion, one of the main reasons for this victory was a much improved performance from the midfield, with Keith Lasley and Scott Leitch running the show. The movement of Kelly and Elliott upfront was superb, and if it hadn't been for a few dodgy offside calls we could easily have bagged a few more goals. There were no failures in the side today, and even the likes of Stephen Nicholas put in a good shift. This win moves us off the bottom of the league, and even though Airdrie won 6-0 this afternoon, if we play like we did today on Tuesday we should have few problems against them.

Come on ye 'Well!

A few snippets of news I heard on Radio Scotland before today's game:

• The two players BD had lined up before being sacked were Gary McSwegan and Ricky Gillies.
• Pat Nevin says that Craig Brown has NOT applied for the manager's job.
• Pat also revealed that the board's decision to sack BD was unanimous.
• Softie and Mio will probably be in charge for the Airdrie and St Johnstone games, and a new man will be appointed as soon after that as possible.

2.30pm

Motherwell will line-up for this afternoon's game against Hearts as follows:

G 1. Brown
D 2. Corrigan
D 4. Forrest
D 5. Ready
M 8. Leitch
M 11. Elliott
M 16. Hammell
M 22. Lasley
M 26. Pearson
F 9. Kelly
F 19. Nicholas

Subs: Connolly, Dow, Twaddle, Adams, Cosgrove.

Referee: G Mitchell

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