Match date : Saturday 18th October 1997 Competition : Premier League Attendance : 7,337
SLACK MOTHERWELL TAKE THE HUMP
Dundee United 4 Motherwell 0A LACKLUSTRE DISPLAY by Motherwell saw them slump to another heavy defeat, this time at the hands of second-bottom placed United, and a third-successive loss as they freefall towards the basement of the Premier Division. Indeed, this was Motherwell's fourth defeat in their last seven league outings, win no wins in that time, an alarming slump which must be checked immediately.
United, to be honest, did not play all that well in this match, but with the tired and listless-looking display Motherwell gave, they didn't need to be anywhere near their best. The first goal was purely and simply a defensive blunder., Kevin Christie, under no pressure whatsoever, failed to look up when playing a back-pass to Keeper Woods. The ball rolled unattended towards goal until Olaffson nipped in to tuck the ball into the net to put the home side one-ahead. Motherwell failed to wake up from this early set-back, and fell further behind twelve minutes later when Winters first-timed an effort from the edge of the box to leave Woods helpless. Although Motherwell did have more possession after this, they failed to produce anything of real note apart from their one and only effort on goals in the entire 90 minutes. Coyne, upon receipt of a long ball from Christie, saw his lay-off chipped to the far post by Weir. There was Falconer, all alone, but all he could do was to aim a tame header into the hands of Dykstra with three Motherwell players rushing in to surely score. That, seriously, was that as far as Motherwell were concerned, and United saw out the time to the interval with relative difficulty, and with more luck on their part could have added to their tally.
Half-Time Dundee United 2 Motherwell 0The second-half was almost a carbon-copy replica of the first, Motherwell ambling about looking completely disinterested whilst United appeared to be playing within their own capabilities. Winters and McLaren, who were connecting well with each other, combined to see the latter curl in a shot which sneaked, for United, the wrong side of the visitors' goal. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that it took the home side until 15 minutes from time to effectively empty the away section of the ground. Brian Martin, still clearly way short of fitness, slipped allowing Olafsson to gain possession. He passed inside to sub McSwegan, who took the opportunity to convince former Motherwell Manager McLean that he should be in the starting line-up when he left Christie and Martin swiping at thin air and rattled in a shot which raced into the far bottom corner of the net. Easton then got in the act, finishing off a good move with a 20-yard shot which Stevie Woods did well to save. However, number four came just before the end of a tortuous 90 minutes for the remaining small number of Motherwell fans. McSwegan, in acres of space on the far side, chipped into McLaren who also appeared to have the freedom of Dundee. His mis-hit shot bounced wickedly off the turf and over the disparing hands of Woods to complete a good day's work for United, but a shocking match for the Fir Parkers.
Full-Time Dundee United 4 Motherwell 0