St Mirren 0-0 Motherwell: Motherwell draw a blank

It was a third successive draw for St Mirren and a tenth in all for a team whose top-six ambitions are likely to be thwarted by a surfeit of stalemates.

Scorelines can be misleading, of course. Goalless draws tend not to linger in the memory but this was an entertaining affair, with both sides prepared to commit players forward in an attempt to win it.

Motherwell started slowly and were almost punished in the second minute when a sloppy pass from Tim Clancy was intercepted by Paul McGowan and Darren Randolph did well to beat away Dougie Imrie’s shot at his post.

Jim Goodwin made it a long afternoon for himself when he became the first player to be cautioned, for deliberate handball, just ten minutes later.

The visitors were forced on to the back foot throughout the opening stages and Graham Carey, supplied by McGowan, saw a raking drive from 25 yards shave the outside of Randolph’s left-hand post. Randolph was called into action again in the 28th minute, twisting in mid-air to turn over a Gary Teale shot which had been deflected by Steven Hammell’s attempted block. It was, as Kenny Shiels might say, shootie-in and McGowan beat the goalkeeper only to miss the target with an effort from distance.

The Steelmen struggled to cope with the frantic tempo established by the home side and there was desperation evident in their appeals for a penalty when Nicky Law crashed to the turf even though Jim Goodwin, his marker, hadn’t appeared to impede him.

Imrie, who’d just been the victim of a heavy, late challenge from Hammell, then found himself booked for clattering Shaun Hutchinson.

“We came out of the traps well and put them under pressure,” said Saints manager Danny Lennon. “We made a terrific start but we could have been a bit more ruthless.”

Quite: that has been the story of their season. Motherwell were more purposeful after the break (they could hardly have been less so) and Henrik Ojamaa, in particular, began to make his mark on proceedings.

The Estonian left two defenders in his wake before crossing for Michael Higdon and it required an outstanding one-handed save from Craig Samson to keep out the striker’s header from point-blank in the 50th minute.

While not as dominant as the home side had been during the first half, Motherwell certainly edged proceedings thereafter, although Tom Hateley and Higdon were cautioned for bringing down Graham Carey and felling McGowan respectively.

Shaun Hutchinson ought to have snatched a winner five minutes from the end but, although he got his head to Hateley’s inswinging corner he headed wastefully wide from six yards.

There was still time for Samson to prove his quality once again, diving full length to turn behind a netbound attempt from Ojaama.

“We’re not arrogant enough to think we can come to St Mirren and expect to win,” said Motherwell manager Stuart McCall, pictured. “We tried to win it but I’m not disappointed with a point. I thought we were sloppy for the first 15 minutes but we got better as the half went on. Both sides have enterprising, attacking players and that was obvious today. We were much improved in the second half but that wasn’t down to me reading the riot act. Their goalkeeper’s made some excellent saves and Shaun [Hutchinson] should have scored with his free header.”

Lennon was equally content with his lot. “We showed great character and an unbreakable mentality because this was a game which would have slipped away from us last season,” he said. “However, there are still five teams battling for that final top-six place and that was our 11th clean sheet of the season, more than double the number we had last year. I’m happy with the progress we’re making and people have to remember where we’ve come from.”