Motherwell kicked-off their 2026/27 William Hill Premiership campaign with a 1-2 win over Hibernian at Easter Road.
Alfred Johansson made just one change from the side that progressed to the third qualifying round of the Conference League on Thursday night, bringing Emmanuel Longelo in from the start in place of Mikey Booth. There was space on the bench for new signings Alex Lowry and Jamie Knight-Lebel, with last season’s Premiership golden boot winner Tawanda Maswanhise also on the bench.
Fresh off the back of both teams progressing in their European ties on Thursday night, Hibernian and Motherwell both looked to secure possession in the early stages. Thursday night goalscorer Martin Boyle looked to test the pace of Jake Girdwood-Reich inside a minute, as he sprung towards the byline before cutting the ball back into the penalty area, but Lukas Fadinger was on hand to clear the danger.
The first shot of the match came after eight minutes. Nathan Lowe latched onto slack Motherwell possession and dragged an effort wide of Alex Paulsen’s goal.
Felix Passlack was next to have an effort, as the ball fell to the full-back on the right-edge of the penalty box; he tried to catch a strike on the volley, but Regan Charles-Cook got out quickly enough to block the shot.
Hibernian then tried to pen the Steelmen into their own half, with Ibrahim Said going on some of his trademark runs forward, trying to get his team up the pitch. Willy Vogt scurried past Jordan Obita, but the Swiss youth international couldn’t find a Motherwell man in the area.
The game had very little drama as the first-half played out from there, with neither side creating any clear-cut chances in front of goal as both sets of supporters grew more frustrated with the lack of goalmouth action.
But then in the 37th minute, drama unfolded. Some great interchange between Tom Sparrow, Said, Fadinger and Oscar Priestman sent the latter charging into the box. Priestman jinked past Josh Mulligan and was brought down, leaving Steven McLean with no option but to point to the spot. Fadinger stepped up and, for the fourth consecutive match, found the back of the net as the Steelmen had the lead five minutes from the interval.
Motherwell had their tails up as they looked for a second before the break. Charles-Cook’s pressure nearly prevailed as he forced the Hibernian defender into a mistake and won a throw-in, which he took quickly, feeding captain Sparrow. His cutback was picked up by Said, who had a go but couldn’t beat the defender, but the ball fell to Charles-Cook on the edge, who tried to wrap his left foot round the ball but narrowly missed the target.
There were no changes during the half time break, as both managers opted to go with the same 11 for the second period.
With three minutes of the half, it really should have been two nil to the Steelmen. Charles-Cook once again chased down a lost cause, as Jason Kerr couldn’t clear his lines. The forward nipped in and gained possession 1v1 with the keeper; he opted to try and go round Raphael Sallinger, but the goalkeeper was able to block, with Fadinger shooting just wide with the follow-up from outside the box.
Fadinger stung the palms of Sallinger after 52 minutes after Charles-Cook broke up the park, but the goalkeeper was well behind the effort. Just seconds later, Lowe registered Hibs’ first shot on target. The big number nine caught the ball sweetly on the volley from a cross, but Paulsen got down low to his right hand side to force the ball out for a corner.
And then a further minute later, the referee pointed to the spot for the second time in the match. A loose pass from Dylan Williams was capitalised on by Boyle, who was then brought down by Priestman as the Australian tried to burst into the box. Boyle stepped up and slotted into the bottom right corner to level the game, with Paulsen going the right way but unable to prevent the shot. 55 minutes gone, 1-1.
Easter Road burst into life as the home crowd could sense their side having the momentum. Owen Elding cut inside from the right-hand side and smashed an effort with his left foot that Paulsen had to tip over the bar brilliantly. Elding then came close from the resulting corner again, as Paulsen couldn’t hang onto the ball from the cross; it fell to Elding, who beat the keeper but couldn’t beat Moormann, who was on the line to clear. The ball was then fired just over by Adam Mayor on his weaker right foot as the Steelmen clung on.
After 66 minutes, Johansson looked to his bench introducing Jamie Knight-Lebel for his debut, and Maswanhise as the Steelmen looked to gain control of the game. Vogt and Girdwood-Reich made way. Alex Lowry was next to make his debut after 75 minutes, with Charles-Cook coming off after a good showing in Leith.
Lowe went close again after 76 minutes as Hibernian tried a quick free-kick on the left flank, but the striker couldn’t convert the cross from Edling as Paulsen and Motherwell blew a sigh of relief.
82 minutes brought more nervous moments for the Steelmen. Paulsen looked as if he’d been fouled when came to try and gather a corner, but the ball was spilled and Lowe was on hand to try and score, but Moormann, once again, denied the goal on the goal-line.
The games defining moment came in the 85th minute and what a moment is was.
Substitute Olly Whyte won the back in the middle the park and fed in fellow sub and debutant Alex Lowry. He combined well with Ibrahim Said, with some excellent one-touch football, which allowed Dylan Williams to square to the onrushing Said and the Nigerian did the rest, dispatching past Sallinger and sending the away support into bedlam.
The Steelmen saw out the last remaining minutes excellently, to make it three wins in a row to start Alfred Johansson’s tenure.
Motherwell Team: Paulsen, Sparrow, Girdwood-Reich, Moormann, Williams, Longelo, Priestman, Fadinger, Said, Vogt, Charles-Cook.
Motherwell Subs: Connelly, Knight-Lebel, Wilson, Lowry, McAllister, Booth, Ross, Whyte, Maswanhise.
