Match date : Saturday 7th March 1998 Competition : Premier League Attendance : 4,811
Motherwell scorer: Tommy Coyne (12)
LUCKY SMITH STEALS THE POINTS
Dunfermline Athletic 2 Motherwell 1ANDY SMITH, THE MAN Every Motherwell Supporter loves to hate, rode his luck after a shocking early challenge on 'Well Keeper Woods to snatch both goals in this crucial match at East End Park.
Motherwell began the match in positive fashion, though the early talking point took place in the Motherwell goal. With the ball bouncing harmlessley through to Woods, Smith inexplicably carried on with his challenge to sickeningly collide with the Goalie. Although Woods did get up, Smith amazingly escaped even a yellow card when a red would not have been out of order. This undoubtedly had an adverse effect on Motherwell's chances of securing all three points as was later proven. The visitors continued to press, and took a deserved lead on 12 minutes. After winning a corner, Davies swung the ball intowards the penalty spot, and there was Tommy Coyne to expertly volley home an unstoppable shot. This should have been the catalyst for Motherwell to go on and record their third victory of the season over the Pars, with Coyne again and Coyle almost doubling the advantage, and the play during the next 10 minutes was decidedly towards the home goal. However, against the run of play, Dunfermline levelled. Bingham raced forward from midfield, slipped the ball out wide and under McMillan's foot to Smith, and he slotted the ball under Woods to bring his side level. Motherwell then seemed to switch off completely, and the clever passing movments of Falconer and Davies disappeared as the visitors struggled to put any attacks together. Dunfermlie, on the other hand, seemed to take a big lift from their unlikely equaliser, and now looked the hungrier side as the carrot of pulling then points clear of Hibs dangled in front of both teams. Smith found his way at last into the Referee's book with a terrible sliding challenge on Kevin Christie, which forced the young Motherwell full-back to leave the field with a nasty gash.
Half Time Dunfermline 1 Motherwell 1The second half began with Dunfermline again in the acendency, though clear-cut opportunities were few and far between. It did look as if the home side would perhaps take any advantage in goalscoring terms as the match progressed. They did take the lead on 63 mintues when Smith beat Newman to a ball into the box. Smith controlled the ball with his first touch, then toe-poked it beyond Woods and into the far corner of the net for what turned out to be the winner. Motherwell brought on firstly Eddie May, then Eric Garcin and finally Lee McCulloch to try and turn the game, and as full-time approached it was Garcin's influence which almost drew the visiting team on a par with Dunfermline. One run from the middle of the park saw the Frenchman, a former team-mate of Eric Cantona, fire in a shot which left Westwater helpless, but fell agonisingly the wrong side of the post. There were bookings for Shields, Robertson (for a bad challenge on Coyle) and also Valakari of Motherwell, though Ref Tom Brown of nearby Edinburgh clearly blundered badly by allowing Smith to go unpunished for his initial assault on Woods, booking him later for the nasty challenge on Christie. Manager Kampman must be concerned at the way Motherwell have dominated their last two matches for the first half-hour then somehow switched off and allowed teams right back into the game.
FULL TIME Dunfermline Athletic 2 Motherwell 1