Motherwell 0 - 0 Dundee Utd: No winners at Fir Park as tactical plans are blown away in the gale

MOTHERWELL manager Stuart McCall and Dundee United counterpart Peter Houston contented themselves with a point and a clean sheet after realising before their Fir Park encounter that the wind would curtail any loftier ambitions.

Both sides struggled to create chances as a strong, swirling wind and heavy rain made for a difficult 90 minutes.

United edged the first half with Darren Randolph saving well from John Rankin and Jon Daly.

Motherwell pressed United back for long spells after the break but chances were few and far between. Dusan Pernis held a Hutchinson header but was otherwise well-protected by his back four.

McCall admitted he would have been happy if the game had been postponed. “I said it was about desire, determination and, most of all, decision making,” the Motherwell manager said. “At times you have just got to put people on the back foot, turn them and play percentage games. Last season we had a scrappy, scrappy game against St Mirren and we lost 1-0, so the positive is that we’ve taken a point but, other than that, there’s not a lot to write home about.”

McCall added: “I think the wind was against us first half and in fairness I thought they played the conditions better than us. You have to use your head and in the second half we were better, we started putting balls in the box.”

Houston, who called for summer football after the game, also simplified his team’s approach. “The biggest thing for managers is making sure you don’t lose a goal, tell them not to take any chances at your end and hope they take chances at theirs,” he said. “I’m pleased we’ve got two clean sheets in a row.”

United right-back Robbie Neilson praised fellow defenders Garry Kenneth and Gavin Gunning. Neilson said: “It was a horrible game, I knew when I saw the weather forecast that it was going to be a difficult game. It was just a case of trying not to make mistakes. There were a lot of long balls and hoping things would happen because there was no football being played. I know it’s not great to see but when there are 60 and 70 miles-per-hour winds it’s not going to be a great spectacle. It was swirling about the stands so you never knew where the ball was going to drop.

“But I thought our two centre-halves played great, in the second half they put us under the cosh a bit but they won a lot of headers.”

Motherwell left-back Stevie Hammell added: “I think you need to be out there to realise how difficult it is to play in. When you wake up and see how blowy it is you just dread it and know you are not going to be able to play football. It becomes a bit of a lottery – there was one moment when the ball got crossed from the left-hand side, swirled and came back up the right-hand side. It’s definitely the worst condition to play in with the wind like that.”

Meanwhile, Motherwell midfielder Keith Lasley is hopeful his thigh injury is not as bad as first feared.