MOTHERWELL 0
PARTICK THISTLE 0
THERE wasn't a sombrero in sight as the blazing sun beamed down on Fir Park yesterday. No inflatable crocodiles being thrown about the stands, no beach ball being skelped off the coupon of an unsuspecting steward.
There was no celebratory pitch invasion either, a custom around these parts over the past two decades, while there was little chance of a rousing lap of honour from the Motherwell players to signal the completion of another prosperous campaign which has been a familiar sights in recent times.
All the end-of-season highs experienced by Scottish football's quintessential overachievers in the past few years only served to remind those watching this snoozefest between Motherwell and Partick Thistle how far the home team has fallen from grace. And they may still have further to go yet.
Events earlier in the day in Edinburgh confirmed what most had suspected - Stuart McCall was coming back to Fir Park almost seven months on from his resignation. Of course, it will be far from a warm welcome for the man now charged with relegating them as Rangers manager. Not that it will count for much in giving him any insider knowledge. Less than half of the Motherwell players who were regular starters under him have found their way into the side of his successor Ian Baraclough, with only five named in the starting XI last week at St Mirren.
If there was a Rangers scout in the stand at this game on the hunt for a hint, he will still be none the wiser as to what kind of challenge he will face on Thursday night. In keeping with the 'international challenge match' vibe of this drab 0-0 encounter, Baraclough made nine changes to his line-up while also drip feeding substitutes in from half-time onwards.
The Motherwell manager had claimed on Friday that this game was not going to be a dead rubber as those on the periphery had the chance to shine. Given the pace of the game struggled to get up to pedestrian at times, it still remains to be seen if any of them will feature over the upcoming two games.
"I wanted the players to step out and stake a claim to be involved in the shake up on Thursday," said Baraclough. "The game itself had a real end-of-season feel to it.
"Generally we got 90 minutes from some of those who haven't been playing regularly. I thought there were one or two standouts, including Luke Watt."
There was little in the way of anything to report from a laidback first half as both teams went through the motions. The closest to any sort of highlight was a series of long-range attempts from Thistle's Gary Fraser, Stephen O'Donnell and Kallum Higginbotham who all tried their luck from distance.
After the break matters improved slightly as Motherwell's focus was sharpened by the introduction of Jack Leitch, Josh Law and Mark O'Brien. Leitch joined in the fun with a 20-yard trundler not long after being introduced at the interval, but it was the experienced figure of John Sutton who would go the closest out of either team. Firstly his screaming free-kick was tipped away by Scott Fox before he turned and fired wide of an empty goal from 10 yards after a clever cutback from Craig Moore.
"We created a lot of chances and had a changed team, too," Said Alan Archibald, the Partick Thistle manager, whose side finish the SPFL Premiership campaign in the comfort of eighth. "I was here a couple of Fridays ago watching Kilmarnock vMotherwell and I was so glad I wasn't involved in the tussle. Now we can relax and start to enjoy a bit of summer."
It is a luxury the Motherwell fans who ponderously shuffled out of Fir Park can only wish for as their team's 30-year stint in Scottish football's top flight continues to hang perilously in the balance.
MOTHERWELL: Twardzik; Watt, Ramsden (O'Brien 56), Laing (Law 63), Straker; Ainsworth (Leitch 45), Grant, Carswell, Thomas; Moore, Sutton
UNUSED SUBS: Long, Erwin, Johnson, Mackin
SCORERS:
BOOKINGS:
PARTICK THISTLE: Fox; O'Donnell, Richards-Everton, Hendry, Booth; Higginbotham (McLaughlin 81), Bannigan, Fraser, Wilson (Craigen 77); Fraser, Doolan (Taylor 67)
UNUSED SUBS: Gallacher, Osman, McDaid
SCORERS:
BOOKINGS:
REFEREE: Steven McLean
ATTENDANCE: 3711
MAN OF THE MATCH: Kallum Higginbotham
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