It's Raining Goals, Hallelujah! // St Mirren 0-5 Motherwell

We at The Dispatch were, and still are, unsure how to really set this piece in motion. We know the story of this match. We go into it fresh off a rather soul-destroying defeat to Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Knocked out the Scottish Cup with a whimper, we were looking to bounce back against the only other team to have really had us feeling this flat; St Mirren. A victory for the Well meant a start at forgetting the cup demons, and potential closure of the gap between Celtic, Rangers and Hearts above us.

Stephen Robinson’s Buddies knocked us out the League Cup at the Semi Final stage before going on to lift the trophy. Since then however, both sides have face polar opposites in terms of league form; The Well are flying high in 4th, with whispers of a late title charge from some, while the Buddies fell to the other side of the table, with Killie's McCann resurgence bringing them into the potential relegation fight. The Saints previous match was a week ago, a 2-0 loss to Hibernian on Valentines Day. A win for the Saints would get them away from Killie, who's last minute heroics away at Tannadice closed the gap ever so slightly, and hopefully bring the love back to Robinsons charges.

The line-ups

The Paisley Pandas changed their shape from their defat against Hibs, going to a 4-2-3-1 to try match JBA's Well Galacticos man for man. Declan John moved into a more defensive left back role, with King moved into right back. The 2 centre halves being Freckleton, and Gogic brought back into the heart of defence from midfield. Fraser dropped out the side and was replaced by Mark O'Hara, who was partnered in the CDM role by Delvaney who moved into, again, a more defensive role. McMenamin and Phillips moved further up the pitch, and were joined by Iwodu, who replaced Nlundulu. The lone striker position fell to Young.

As for the Well. We know the script by now. 4-2-3-1. JBA brought in the changes as our team went back to a more set first team line-up. Ward returned in goal replacing youngster Matty Connolly. At the back, out went Liam Gordon and Tom Sparrow and in came Stephen Welsh and Emmanuel Longelo. Out went Fadinger and in stepped Elliot Watt in the holding midfield position, and up top out went Bjørgolfsson and RCC and in stepped Ibrahim Said and Callum Slattery.

The Story Of The Match

So this is the part where we sit and analyse the passages of play and retell the game. Normally trying to fill the gaps in between goals. But to be frank, this game was utter domination from start to finish for the Well. St Mirren didn't have an answer for us throughout the 90, so let's just cover the good moments and the... other moments.

The Buddies had a chance early on in the match, with Young having a strike, but Ward was down smartly to parry away from goal. After that, it was only a matter of time for the Well to break the deadlock. A ball in from Longelo finding Maswanhise. A slight touch from Tawanda saw the ball go just wide.

And the break did come in the 14th minute, as great interplay between Priestman and Slattery found Elijah Just outside the box. Slattery's run took the defender away, and The Kiwi, took a touch out to the right, an struck a venomous effort through St Mirren legs and beyond the keeper into the net. A stunning start. St Mirren kept trying to get back into the game, a ball from King finding Young, who rocketed the ball just wide of the goal.

We had to wait until the 30th minute for our second. A ball inside from O'Donnell to Just saw the midfielder in bags of space. A turn and drive forward, before a ball through to Tawanda saw our warrior fouled by the onrushing St Mirren keeper. A VAR wait for the original pen decision to be upheld, and Tawanda duly smashed home his 19th in all comps for the season. Maswanhise nearly made it 3-0 and 20 for the season, firing just wide after another ball from Longelo.

Now the first moment of controversy. Gogic shown a straight red for a tackle on Slattery. On initial viewing, you can see why the red is dished out. However, VAR intervening meant that the correct decision was made eventually. The red rescinded, and a yellow handed out instead.

Second half kicking off, and within 4 minutes it was 3-0. Just winning the ball in the midfield, turning and driving forward again. A ball to Slattery was slightly off, but the Well got lucky. The ball found Said, whose shot took a deflection and evaded George, finding the back of the net. Probably being a tad harsh, but for us, the keeper should do better there.

Now, the real controversial moment. An off the ball incident involving Callum Slattery and Richard King. Lots of shirt pulling and tugging between the 2 saw King lash out at the Motherwell man, and Slattery falls to the ground. The ref, seemingly hearing from his official on the far side that Slattery had been hit in the face. Straight red and down the tunnel. From inside the ground, the Motherwell faithful had no idea what had gone on as play continued down the other wing. All we knew was the game had just been made easier.

However...after getting home and seeing the replays, a different story is told. And is one we need to remain unbiased about. King does lash out at Slattery near his face. Is there contact? No. Can we see why the ref has given a red based off of what information he has received? Yes. But the next question is more damning; Why did VAR not intervene with this decision, and see the correct decision made? Of that, we can be unsure. But in this day and age, you take a risk swiping anywhere near an opponents face in spite of VAR being available. A stupid decision from King resulted in a stupid prize. In an ideal scenario, the ref gets called to the monitor, rescinds the red, and probably gives King and Slattery a yellow. Did the red card alter the matches outcome? Probably not in all fairness, but we will never know the answer to that. And that is us trying to be as fair as possible.

Said, Tawanda and Longelo celebrate

6 minutes later, and it was 4-0. Just again involved, playing out wide, and getting the ball to Longelo. Longelo into Said, Said into Slattery, who lays it perfectly into the path of Longelo. Longelo takes a touch, looks up, and slams the ball under George and into the net. The linesman's flag raised, with offside being the reason. VAR intervened again, and again, the correct decision was made, as the goal was eventually given. St Mirren snuck another chance after the 4th. A bit of the classic ping pong in the box saw the ball break to O'Hara, whose effort was superbly saved by Callum Ward. The resulting corner was also dealt with by the number 1 in the sticks.

And then it was 5. The ball played out wide to Sparrow, who clipped the ball into the box. An astonishing effort from Bjrgolffson, a volley hit into the ground, and the ball bounced up and past George. His first goal for the club, and deserved after some fantastic performances from the new number 15. 5 goals, 3 G+A, a good return.

And with that, it was done. 5-0. The biggest margin of victory in the league this season. Silky soccer. Football with a purpose. Domination. Robbo. Hartley. O'Hara. Sir Alex. Your boys took a hell of a beating. And truthfully, 5-0 on the balance of play can be seen as both justified and flattering of St Mirren.

Motherwell dominated possession away from home, with an astonishing 71% of the ball. 48 touches in the opp box in comparison to St Mirren's 14, 702 passes to the Buddies 282. Passes finding the mark 92.6% of the time, with 168 successful final third passes to the Saints 36. The only passing metric we lost out on was long balls (56 to 48). It truly was a football schooling being shown by the boys in C+A.

However, one stat that will get overlooked in the aftermath of the match (and score-line) is our defensive metric. 100% of tackles won. Granted, we only made 4 in comparison to the Saints 16 (with a 56.3% success rate), it shows when we had to defend, we did it properly and had 0 risks.

Top 6 secured, with loads more to play for

Player Ratings

Normally we have the nice graphic here to showcase how we felt everyone played, with ratings and justification etc. Simply put, after that showing, everyone is 10/10. No notes. Special shouts to Slattery for a hat-trick of assists (in spite of the negativity coming his way), McGinn and SOD for getting better and better, Ward for pulling off a worldy save and keeping the clubs 20th clean sheet of the season, Just for being unplayable and Bjorgolffson for grabbing that first goal.

Congratulations to the keepers (and defensive unit!) for keeping 20 clean sheets so far this season. The chance to break records is on

Now we see ourselves with 6 games left before the Split. Dundee United (H), Dundee (A), Celtic (A), Hibernian (H), Falkirk (H) and ending with Hearts (A). We have an opportunity to make this season truly special. We're not saying how for fear of jinxing anything, but the push to split the OF is something we can at minimum aim for. Get behind the boys, and back them to hilt. Look what happens when we do after adversity. That away end was truly special to be in in Paisley. Lets get that atmosphere and get Fir Park, and every away end we visit, bouncing, and roar the Steelmen on to victory!

For more of this, and all things Motherwell FC, you can find it in our fanzine!

On Sale Now!