St Mirren 1-3 Motherwell: SPL survival is passing St Mirren by

Published on Saturday 9 May 2009 20:02

St Mirren 1 O'Donnell 72 Motherwell 3 Murphy 22; Clarkson 32, 62

MARK McGhee made a statement of intent before yesterday's visit to Paisley by selecting every creative player at his disposal. He said afterwards that he only had two aims in this match: "To be positive and attacking, and it's worked for us." The visitors' emphatic win leaves their hosts perilously close to the SPL trapdoor, with just three games remaining, including a trip to bottom side Falkirk on Saturday.

St Mirren actually started brightly and had the best of the early chances, with Andy Dorman getting in on goal and forcing Graeme Smith to save sharply before Billy Mehmet was mob-tackled trying to get another shot in. Yet the first goal came against the run of play at the other end when Cillian Sheridan latched on to a clearance from his keeper to win a corner.

The home side looked half asleep as the ball was whipped in, with Jack Ross on the near post clearing the curling ball off his line. Within seconds the ball-watching home defence were statuesque as the visitors again knocked a high ball into the penalty area. This time the lapse was terminal, Jamie Murphy breezing deep into the area and heading Steven Hammell's high, hanging cross back across keeper Mark Howard for the opener.

Gus MacPherson's men tried to up the tempo from the restart, but with a lack of incision and a front three displaying a chronic inability to stay onside, they had little to show for a frenetic burst of activity except for one Scott Cuthbert header over the bar from Dorman's free-kick.

Where St Mirren employed muscular endeavour to no end, Motherwell were all slick inter-passing, at times ripping through the home side as if they weren't there. They knew their way to goal, too, and within 10 minutes of their first goal they doubled their lead. Sheridan was involved again, his neat one-two with David Clarkson setting Motherwell in motion and putting gangling midfielder Stephen Hughes into space down the right. As the Buddies' cover closed, Hughes' shot rippled across goal, hitting the back post and bouncing past Ross's lunge into Clarkson's path. From a couple of feet he made no mistake.

Nor did the home side's clumsy efforts to drag themselves back into the game meet with the approval of their fans. If the drizzle lifted just before the interval, the venom from the stands continued to rain down upon the players, who left the pitch to a cacophony of boos and jeers.

The second half started as the first had finished, with St Mirren working hard to win the ball only to knock long, aimless passes forward, while Motherwell countered with precise passing and a speed of thought that St Mirren simply couldn't match. More importantly, the only team in the bottom six with nothing to gain looked up for the fight. The alarm bells should have been ringing for St Mirren from the restart, but once again they looked hesitant, allowing Hughes to pick up the ball on halfway and take it to the edge of the penalty area before any defender closed him down, the Motherwell man's shot going harmlessly wide.

Hughes was at the centre of things moments later when he picked the ball up from the impressive Murphy and fed Paul Quinn on the overlap. The full-back, with time and space, curled in a cross that was converted by the head of Clarkson, despite Howard's attempted save.

From 3-0 down there was no way back, but at times it looked as if it might turn into a rout. Motherwell had their tails up and were playing sweeping, attacking football. Only when it was too late did St Mirren really start to play their way into the danger area and put real pressure on their visitors. It paid immediate dividends too, with Dorman winning the ball on the right and sclaffing it back for the ball to be crossed into the area, and substitute Stephen O'Donnell scoring with a thumping volley.

From then on, it was one-way traffic. Thomson came close to closing the deficit to a single goal and Dorman finally became a real threat. But for all the huffing and puffing, everyone knew it was a lost cause, and at the death Jim O'Brien missed a one-on-one with Smith. With a tricky match at Kilmarnock in midweek, that trip to Falkirk on Saturday has assumed a significance few could have envisaged a month ago.