Motherwell vs Kilmarnock 17/2/18

[tweed275]

Not had the chance to comment on the game.

Don't think I'm doing anyone an injustice when I say both sides set up to attack and at the start both  sides were very disappointing making poor decisions in the final third  resulting in poor shots, crosses that weren't on being tried or when making good decisions the execution was poor.  I've seen both Motherwell and Kilmarnock play a lot better than this over the course of this season.

Killie then took their chance through O'Donnell after a very poor decision by Main and as the defence were coming out to support the break, there was nobody able to effectively close him down, but what a finish that was.

When Killie scored they then shut the gate and it became harder and harder for Motherwell to get in behind them.  Broadfoot and Boyd won header after header and Greg Taylor did a job on Cadden - I didn't realise what an effective player he was.  In my mind his stifling job should have earned him man of the match.

The only one getting any change from his defender was Frear on O'Donnell as he skinned him for pace time after time but his crossing and decision making once past him was poor.  I think Robinson should have realised that and done something to try and change it.  Tanner was getting frustrated, Cadden couldn't get by Taylor and Frear couldn't cross and all three were just left trying the same thing.  Even swapping Cadden and Frear for ten minutes just to see if it gave Killie a different problem would have been worth a shot as it was inevitable we were ending on nil the way it was going.

Penalty claims - at the time I thought the one at 0-0 on Ciftci was the best shout.  I thought the tackle on Main was a good one and having seen it back, my view hasn't changed.  I thought Broadfoot and Aldred was six and two threes at the game and wasn't too unhappy but with the benefit of the replay I think that was a penalty and given Broadfoot had already been booked, he'd surely have been booked again and that may have given us the equaliser but also given us the space to go for the kill.  I think we have a right to feel a bit of a grievance there but despite Thompson and Stewart's assertion that McLean had a 'clear view', he clearly didn't and Mulumbu was right in front of him.

Both teams defended very well, disappointing that we made an error when coming out to gift a goal but that happens sometimes and Killie punished us for it big style.  I honestly don't feel there is as much as a fag packet between these teams now and we're going to miss out to Kilmarnock for sixth because we got our injuries at the time of season we were playing twice a week and it cost us a tonne of points but we are light years ahead of last year and going the right way so plenty for us to be pleased about too.