Motherwell Prove Lessons Learned || Motherwell 2 - 0 St Mirren
- Declan Dundas
- Jan 7
- 4 min read
Motherwell started 2026 with a bang as the Steelmen brushed aside St Mirren in a bitterly cold encounter in Lanarkshire.
Match report
Before the match begun, Fir Park observed a minutes silence for all the Motherwell fans lost in 2025.
The Lineups
St Mirren started relatively brightly, winning three counters in quick succession. The Motherwell defence dealt with these easily enough though and the scoreline remained goalless.
The first real chance saw an Elijah Just cross unable to connect with an amber and claret jersey. St Mirren then responded with a chance of their own, with goalkeeper Callum Ward producing an excellent save to push away the shot from Miguel Freckelton.
Callum Slattery managed to feed the ball to Lukas Fadinger who shot with his left foot but the St Mirren goalkeeper was able to tip it over the bar. Our Zimbabwean Warrior was able to then find Just but the New Zealander took too much time with the chance, so it went begging.
Then, just as the script was written, the breakthrough came from none other than Tawanda Maswanhise, to bring his goal count to 14 in all competitions. A sublime through-ball to the Zimbabwean from Just gave Tawanda the time and space to drive towards the visitor's box and our Warrior found no issue in dispatching the ball into the bottom corner.
As Robinson's side were handed what could only be described as a lesson in football, the St Mirren side lost the heads and frantically picked up three yellow cards in two minutes.
The travelling Paisley fans would have been desperate for some sort of reaction, but it was not forthcoming, particularly when Motherwell maverick Ibrahim Said penetrated the St Mirren defence and cut it back to Tawanda Maswanhise and Callum Slattery who got in each other's way. Tawanda was able to pass to Elliot Watt who smashed it into Shamal George's top left corner.
St Mirren were then forced to deviate from their low-to-midblock game plan to try and rescue something from the game, but this only opened more channels for Motherwell. With a little more sharpness, it easily, easily, could've been more.
Analysis - what did we learn?
Motherwell have resilience
On the surface, this may have seemed like another run of the mill win for Motherwell, but I propose it was something far more important: it was one of the most psychologically important victories of the season (yes, even bigger than the Celtic win).
Leading into the match, there was undoubtedly a narrative that St Mirren handed Motherwell a lesson at Hampden and it could easily happen again. To prevent this, Motherwell not only had to learn the footballing lessons, but also ensure that, psychologically, the defeat wouldn't hang over them.
It is abundantly evident that both happened - and I believe this to be a rarity. There are not many Motherwell teams that would have been able to shake off such an excruciating defeat and bounce back with utter conviction; indeed, from the off it looked like Motherwell were itching to set the record straight. Motherwell will rightly get plaudits for the actual footballing performance, but the mentality to recover from such a heavy defeat is also crucially important.
Askou's attention to detail remains crucial
Scoring first against a team like St Mirren is important. You don't automatically lose if that doesn’t happen, but it becomes a helluva lot harder to win. The semi-final proved this. We know that he's not going to deviate from the strategy or the principles of his play, but he can tweak the tactics. And this was exemplified by the return of Tawanda Maswanhise.
St Mirren are a team that is defensively rigid and compact, but it isn't a Livingston type of defensiveness. It's a lot higher, aggressive, and in-your-face. Askou expertly used JT's pace to allow direct play to push the St Mirren backline towards their own goal; which then affords Motherwell the increased passing channels alongside having high xG shot opportunities. This is how our first goal was scored, and it meant that St Mirren couldn't defend as high as they did, lest they let the Warrior have the Freedom of Motherwell to score another. It only follows then that the lower Motherwell force St Mirren to play, the least defensive work Motherwell have to do; you may recall Askou saying that, when asked about the low goals conceded rate Motherwell have, 'when you have 60% possession as opposed to 40%, you actually have to do 50% less defensive phases'.
Maswanhise remains in inspired form
Any notion of AFCON disappointment upsetting performances can firmly be put to bed. Tawanda truly hit the ground running, constantly probing the St Mirren defence and taking advantage of the high line their back three used when out of possession. As mentioned, using the latter allowed Motherwell to execute the more possession based football we've now became known for.
Although Motherwell did well in his absence, it is only welcome our Warrior has returned from AFCON. Though there is little doubt he'll be disappointed with how Zimbabwe fared, he's not letting such disappointment get in the way of his Motherwell performances. Despite being away on international duty for a few weeks, Maswanhise remains second in the SPFL Top Scorers chart - still leading the way against Premiership big hitters like Nygren, Braga, Bowie, McGrath and Maeda. Indeed, Tawanda is second in Scotland for conversion percentage rate too. This is inspired form. With only one behind Shankland, we could possibly be looking at the first Motherwell player to finish the season as the League’s top scorer since Michael Higdon won it in the McCall era.
And it's just not goals too. His out of possession play has dramatically improved since last year. We're now seeing a far more complete, well-rounded player. Though, in part, I believe this is due to Michael Wimmer - who actually dropped Tawanda for a few matches because of this. A bit of tough love still goes far in the contemporary game.
We can only hope that this form continues, and with the signs shown over the last few weeks it seems that hope is well-placed. Indeed, with a crucial win against a team that previously had our number, this team is showing that setbacks can - and will be - overcome.
Next up will be a tough test against Hibernian who will undoubtedly be looking to set the record straight. With a sold out away end, it's bound to be a cracker.
Stay safe and enjoy the rest of your week, 'Well fans!
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