Motherwell 3 - 2 Falkirk: Mark McGhee is, by nature, a man who sees the glass as half-full. Hence his ability to accentuate the positive in Motherwell�s desperate performance against Nancy.

Mark McGhee is, by nature, a man who sees the glass as half-full. Hence his ability to accentuate the positive in Motherwell's desperate performance against Nancy, and to stress the long-term benefits to his players of such a humbling football lesson.

But McGhee is also a realist and, as such, he must know that for all the thrills and excitement his side served up with Falkirk yesterday, they still ill-resemble a team capable of resuming its European education next year. Even in victory, Motherwell still failed to match the standards of last season, the reasons for which clearly remain a puzzle to McGhee, who wrote in his programme notes of "not seeing any reason" why third place cannot be retained.

"We're not there yet," McGhee conceded afterwards, referring to last season's benchmark. "But although we're not defending as well as we like, the quality of football is definitely coming back. And I thought we deserved it today. Our kitman had told me beforehand that he saw this one finishing 3-3, so I was worried for a while there!"

The Motherwell coach was certainly justified in pointing out that, Ross McCormack aside, his side possess all the ingredients that made them such a success story last season. Something is missing, however, most obviously in defence, and only consistency will dispel the doubts.

The most obvious absentee yesterday was the club's joint leading scorer, David Clarkson, who found himself dropped to the bench along with Bob Malcolm just two days after being named in the Scotland squad to face Norway. Promoted at their expense were John Sutton and Jamie Murphy, and the latter was quick to justify his selection.

The 19-year-old, who was making only his fifth Motherwell start, had already provided the game's first effort on goal, a smart shot on the turn, by the time he raced through to slot home the opener with 12 minutes gone. His reward for chasing through a speculative lofted pass from Keith Lasley came when Jackie McNamara misjudged the flight of the ball in attempting to head clear, leaving Murphy time and space to pick his spot.

Motherwell had seized the initiative but if they thought that their young winger's second career goal was to lay the foundations for a comfortable afternoon, they reckoned without Falkirk's strike pairing of Steve Lovell and Michael Higdon. Just 10 minutes had passed when Lovell's pace took him through on to an intelligent flick-on from his burly partner, and once again there was little doubt about the outcome. Motherwell, it is certain, will not be the last side punished by Falkirk in this manner.

Yet just as McNamara's earlier misjudgement had cost them the opener, so Falkirk were left to rue another individual mistake that once again left them chasing the match. This time, Robert Olejnik found himself cast in role of hapless villain, sliding out to collect a routine through ball only to realise that his momentum would carry him outside his box. John Hughes is unlikely to have seen the funny side, but there was genuine comedy value in the way Olejnik was panicked into parting with the ball, allowing Chris Porter to gather possession and sidefoot past Lee Bullen. The goal was Porter's first of the season and he might have added a second in first-half injury time when only a miraculous goal-line clearance from Bullen prevented his header crossing the line. Olejnik was also called upon to atone partially for his earlier calamity when Steven McGarry's well-struck shot forced him to leap agilely to his left to claw the ball away.

Yet even when Motherwell were in the ascendancy, their defence remained sufficiently porous to ensure that their fans were never able to feel comfortable. Within a few minutes of Porter re-establishing the hosts' advantage, Lovell should have restored parity for a second time when he headed wide from an unmarked position after being sought out by a flighted McNamara cross.

The second half provided more evidence of Motherwell's defensive vulnerability, notably in the ease with which Graham Barrett was able to spin away from Mark Reynolds to equalise just three minutes after the restart.

By this stage, news of St Mirren's victory had upped the stakes, with both sides knowing that defeat would leave them sharing bottom spot with Aberdeen. And while footballers will always preach that they win and lose as a team', it was Motherwell's forwards who bailed out their defensive colleagues.

Sutton ultimately provided the knockout blow, continuing his fine scoring form since returning to the SPL by attacking and bulleting home a Steven McGarry cross for his fifth goal in Motherwell colours.

Lovell might have levelled matters for a third time with a volley that flashed just wide, and Higdon was only denied by a superb Graeme Smith save, but Falkirk - whose manager expressed European ambitions prior to this match - must now face up to a battle simply to haul themselves away from the foot of the table.

"It's a sore one for us," Hughes lamented afterwards, admitting Olejnik may pay with his place for that first-half error. "I've not seen one really top quality goal scored against us this season: every single one has been avoidable. But my boys are trying to do things the right way and are giving it everything. We just need to dust ourselves down and get ourselves up that league."