A glance at the Ladbrokes Premiership table makes for uncomfortable reading for Motherwell supporters with a win, a draw and four defeats leaving them playing catch-up on the nine teams above them.
Of course, it’s too early to start reaching for the panic button, unless you’re on the board of Dundee or St Mirren. Yet the Betfred League Cup quarter-final tie against Hearts at Tynecastle on Wednesday night offers the Fir Park outfit an escape of sorts from the drudgery of their unimpressive start in the league.
It was at this stage of the competition last year that they eliminated Aberdeen, but Elliott Frear, an unused Motherwell substitute that day, believes the trip to the capital in two days presents a huge opportunity for them to reactivate their season.
Frear was at the centre of a moment of controversy in the first half of their 1-0 defeat to the Dons at Pittodrie where Andy Considine was considered by referee Nick Walsh not to have fouled the midfielder in the penalty area as he homed-in on goal.
The Dons full-back, Walsh thought, won the ball fairly but Frear was unconvinced as he hit the ground claiming a penalty kick. Television pictures were quite persuasive, although Stephen Robinson, perhaps recognising the pressure referees face when asked to make such snap judgments, decided against criticism. Frear did not.
"I thought it was a penalty,” he insisted. I felt I got a touch on the ball but the referee did not give it.
“I will have a look at it when I get my clips through. We didn’t get the rub of the green but we have to take the positives and move into a big game on Wednesday.
‘It is a fine margin. Aberdeen are a good side and they’ve finished second for the past few years so you need decisions to go your way.
‘The ref didn’t say too much to me apart from that he thought Considine got the ball.”
The Motherwell midfielder, incidentally, was booked late in the game for simulation as the visitors threw everything at their opponents and probably deserved a point for their efforts.
It was James Wilson’s sixth-minute strike that proved the winner, a superbly-executed goal from the on-loan Manchester United forward from whom much is expected this season at Pittodrie.
But, if the Lanarkshire club desperately needed a shot in the arm, so too did the Dons, at least before Saturday’s clash. Graeme Shinnie, their captain, agreed their performance was far from perfect as he mulled over a stuttering start to their season, though their victory moved them fromeighth to fifth in the table and boosted their hopes of a rewarding return from their Betfred League Cup quarter-final against Hibs at Easter Road tomorrow night where Wilson, who faded after his goal on Saturday, will be encouraged to work his magic once more.
“There is always going to be expectation because of where he is coming from and what he has done,” Shinnie said. “It was good to get him off the mark and to settle him down a wee bit and he’ll be delighted with that.
“We were aware of him when he was playing at Manchester United.
“We are no different to anyone else and when he came to the club he gave us that buzz.
“It has brought a good bit of excitement to the squad and you need that and when you sign new players; it gives you that buzz.
“For him to come in and get his goal we are all delighted with him.”
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