Four goal 'Well thump Morton

[Footymad]

Motherwell scored four without loss against Morton to take a commanding lead at their Betfred group. A double from James Scott and singles from Jermaine Hylton and Liam Donnelly cheered the three thousand 'Well fans. - External Link

[Handsome_Devil]

Plenty of caveats but we can be very happy with that. The wingers look like they'll give teams trouble, we just need to get them the ball.

You can base nothing on July form but so far only Ross County other than us have won both, Killie have just been humiliated by part-time farmers and Aberdeen got taken the wire by a team of reindeer. We have handled a big transition and the two - on paper - trickiest fixtures of the group with grace so far.

[neillyboy]

Stop paying attention to other teams and look at the fact that Motherwell took Morton apart tonight. We looked really good with a really pacy attack. Who gives a toss about what Aberdeen or Kilmarnock are doing.

[LawSteelman]

Yeah a good night's work and in the end an enjoyable one.

The first half was fairly even and Morton could easily have gone in level but we're thwarted by a smart save by Gillespie, before we upped it in the second half. For the first time in years we appear to have two wingers with pace to burn and Hylton had an excellent night and took his goal well. Passmarks also to Polworth in the middle of the park, going James Scott who looks to have developed his game more from last season and at the back Declan Gallagher looked assured and comfortable - he will prove to be one of our best signings in recent years I reckon.

[skippy91]

5 games 20 goals 0 against regardless of opposition we've got to be pleased with the progress we appear to be making.

[sieb1886]

Yeah a good night's work and in the end an enjoyable one.

The first half was fairly even and Morton could easily have gone in level but we're thwarted by a smart save by Gillespie, before we upped it in the second half. For the first time in years we appear to have two wingers with pace to burn and Hylton had an excellent night and took his goal well. Passmarks also to Polworth in the middle of the park, going James Scott who looks to have developed his game more from last season and at the back Declan Gallagher looked assured and comfortable - he will prove to be one of our best signings in recent years I reckon.

Agree a hunner % on Gallacher. And, the difference in watching players with no fear (for now), running at leopard-style pace was heart warming; albeit, we were playing Morton! Didn't think I'd be in such a positive state of mind at this point in the early season. When shall my bubble burst?!

[Handsome_Devil]

The league table will eventually give a toss, football is relative not absolute.

[wellin]

Looked good last night, s said before the wingers could cause teams problems with the pace they have. For me the best performance from the new signings was Gallacher. He looks as of he could be a very astute signing.

[Wellup4it]

Certainly cause for cautious optimism after last night's win. We seem to be heading for a season of exciting football but my concern is that we need a platform of reliability and solidity to underpin it. So far so good though. This season's acquisitions seem promising at the very least.

[Handsome_Devil]

If we look at the likely first XI, I think we have the basis of being solid enough to be safe if not challenge too high.

We have two strong goalkeepers and Gallagher seems a very good addition. Dunne will occasionally get found out but his pace and strength will see him ok more often than not. Carroll hasn't given us massive reason to panic just yet but even if he doesn't work out we know that Tait/Grimshaw as full backs is acceptable if not deal.

Campbell will continue ploughing up down reliably enough which means the big question is Donnelly. The change in him since being moved to midfield is remarkable but it's a very different gig doing that week in week out than against Livi in a dead rubber and some Championship dross. We don't really know what Sloth brings yet ofc.

This obviously ignores squad depth if we get injuries but I think it looks solid enough to be comfortably safe...we can also hope to play a bit further up the pitch than previously as you'd imagine few teams would risk leaving space for Seedorf and Hylton. That could ease the pressure on Donnelly a bit and we'd rely on Dunne's pace to cover our own high back line.

There's a lot of ifs in there and I also think there's a concern about how/if we can score goals against teams who can actually defend but we have reason for cautious optimism. At the very least Robinson is not intending to go back to the safety first hoofball - win or lose no one will be able to complain we're not trying to play football and be exciting to watch.