St Mirren 0 - 0 Motherwell: Brown apologises for asking team to play 'Scotland-style'

Published on Tuesday 9 March 2010 22:19

MOTHERWELL manager Craig Brown apologised to his players for asking them to play Scotland-style against St Mirren last night.

The Fir Park side looked awkward playing a 3-5-2 system in Paisley and had Buddies' substitute Andy Dorman to thank for their point which extended their unbeaten run to 11 Clydesdale Bank Premier League games.

Brown, who took Scotland to the 1998 World Cup in France, said: "I think least said, soonest mended. I don't want to have too many thoughts about the game because I can't be too enthusiastic about the way we played.

"Sometimes when you get a point like that you are a bit embarrassed. When you see a first-half performance like that you say 'My God'.

"But I take responsibility for that. I asked the players to play a shape with which they are not familiar and it wasn't to match up to St Mirren. I thought we had the players to play 3-5-2 which I played a lot with the Scottish team and which had been very successful.

"That shape won in Germany, it won at Wembley so it wasn't the shape, it was the lack of preparation to perfect it and I said that to them and apologised to them for it."

Brown continued: "Andy Dorman missed a good chance for St Mirren and we hardly created a chance. We are much better than that but St Mirren are fighting for their lives and they are going to get chances so you have to give credit to them for that."

With a dull game going nowhere Dorman replaced Alan Johnston on the hour-mark then in fact missed two good chances within five minutes.

The Paisley midfielder twice had only Well keeper John Ruddy to beat but missed the target on both occasions leaving the home side without a win in their last ten SPL matches, although they move four points clear of bottom side Falkirk.

St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson was reluctant to criticise Dorman but admitted that missed chances cost his side yet again. "Andy was only on for seconds when the first chance came to him but the second one he snatched at it," he said. "He was just desperate to score.

"Last season he would have taken the ball around the keeper as if he wasn't there. On another night we would have scored a double. We have drawn eight games at home and I would have said that in four of them, we could have had maximum points."

St Mirren: Gallacher, Mair, Potter, Barron, Ross (O'Donnell 76), Johnston (Dorman 60), Brady, Murray, Carey, Higdon (Mehmet 59), Dargo. Subs Not Used: Howard, Thomson, Loy, McLennan.

Motherwell: Ruddy, Reynolds, Craigan, Saunders, Hateley, Coke (Murphy 46), Jennings, Forbes (O'Brien 46), Hammell, Sutton, Humphrey (McGlinchey 82). Subs Not Used: Fraser, Jutkiewicz, Lasley, McHugh.