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“We know we need to be more ruthless. We aren’t being streetwise enough in either box.”

Stephen Robinson reflects on the loss to Dundee United.

On a perfect summer’s day for football the attention might have been on the empty stands. But it was Motherwell who were left empty handed as United nicked all three points.

It was a double whammy from former Fir Park favourite Mark Reynolds who marshalled a disciplined Tannadice team, before scoring the only goal at the start of the second half.

And although there were some positives from the ‘Well performance, it was largely from back to middle as once again the Fir Park men lacked a cutting edge to overcome an organised defence.

For the first home Premiership game of a strange new season, Stephen Robinson made changes to the line-up and the formation from the side at Dingwall on Monday evening.

Bevis Mugabi came in at the back, with Ricki Lamie moving to the left to cover for the injured Nathan McGinley.

Allan Campbell was restored to a three man midfield and after his impact from the bench against County, Sherwin Seedorf retained his place on the left wing. Jake Hastie, making his return to Fir Park, started on the right, with Christopher Long ploughing the middle channel on his own.

Amazingly, this was United’s first visit to Fir Park since March 2016, when goals from Marvin Johnson and Louis Moult left them on the wrong end of a 2-1 defeat and a step nearer their four year exile from the top flight.

With United changing in the South Stand, they were led down the staircase and on to the pitch by their captain Reynolds.

For both teams and those inside Fir Park this was still a surreal experience. United kicked off facing the Davie Cooper Stand adorned with a couple of hundred cardboard cutouts of Well fans.

The first loud shout came from the United players after four minutes when Ian Harkes tumbled in the box under Declan Gallagher. But their penalty appeals were ignored by referee Steven McLean.

The first action that elicited any appreciation from the 200 or so sitting socially distanced and masked in the Phil O’Donnell stand came after 14 minutes. In a sweeping move started by Trevor Carson the ball was moved through Lamie, David Turnbull and Long before Seedorf’s cross was glanced wide of goal by Campbell.

While there was little between the side’s in terms of pressure on either goal, the United players held the upper hand in terms of noise level as they vocally encouraged to press the ‘Well players every time they had possession.

Seedorf was again the provider after 21 minutes when his pass found Long 12 yards in front of goal but as the striker was about to drive Jamie Robson stepped in with a last gasp block.

United’s best move and chance came in the 28th minute. But after being played in by Harkes, Luke Bolton should have at least tested Carson instead of driving the ball into the side netting.

There was plenty of energy and grunting in the opening half hour but the best sight from a Motherwell perspective was the amount of time David Turnbull had on the ball.

In the 35th minute the ‘Well midfielder was provided with his first shooting opportunity but from 35 yards his free kick was smothered low in front of his right hand post by Benjamin Siegrist.

Four minutes later, Turnbull’s quickly taken free kick released Long, who dragged the ball back across the box only to see his thumping drive rebound off Mark Connolly.

Hastie had been provided with plenty of the ball in the first 45 but got little joy out of the United defence and it was little surprise when the on loan winger was replaced with Tony Watt at the interval.

After taking 40 minutes to test the ‘Well ‘keeper, United looked much more positive from the start of the second half as a couple of attempts whizzed across Carson’s goal.

However, it was almost a perfect introduction for Watt when he stretched inside the six yard to connect with Lamie’s cross but could only direct the ball into Siegrist’s gloves.

The Tannadice men’s early threat was rewarded after 52 minutes when they nicked the only goal of the game.

Liam Smith’s inviting ball towards the six yard box looked to have gone begging until Reynolds sneaked in at the back to slip the ball past a helpless Carson.

That played perfectly into United’s game plan to sit tight and protect their lead.

‘Well spurned an early chance to level when Seedorf’s cross found Lamie who nodded the ball onto Long but from eight yards he steered his header over the bar. That was the last action for the former Blackpool striker as he was replaced by Jordan White, giving the tall hit man 35 minutes to impress on his home debut.

With 12 minutes remaining and still no signs of unlocking a tight and organised United, Jermaine Hylton and Harry Robinson were given the task of helping the home side take something from the game.

Instead it was the visitors who came within a few inches of wrapping up the points when Dillon Powers’ screamer from 18 yards got the merest of touches from Carson to send the ball crashing off the face of the crossbar.

Three minutes from time, ‘Well looked to have snatched the equaliser when White headed home Hylton’s cross. But the celebrations were short lived as the referee ruled the striker had been pushing in the six-yard box.

Despite finishing the game in the United box and forcing a string of corners, Motherwell drew a blank for the second consecutive game.

We can confirm that a first team player tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week, as part of our regular testing procedures.

However following two further tests – one through the NHS and another through our private testing facility – he has returned negative results.

The player has not shown any symptoms at any point.

Despite this ‘false positive’, the player will be in self-isolation for 10 days as a precaution. He will be tested again prior to his return to training.

Our match programme will remain available to buy across the 2020/21 season.

Although we are starting the campaign behind closed doors, you can start by purchasing your Motherwell v Dundee United programme online now and have it delivered to your door.

Priced at £3, head to Curtis Sport and make your purchase now.

All in-stock programme are dispatched directly from Curtis Sport’s warehouse if ordered before 4pm, Monday to Friday.

If you want to secure your programmes for the whole of the season, you can take out a subscription to receive them all to your door, even after we’re back in at Fir Park.

Priced at £95, head to Curtis Sport and buy your subscription now.

We’ve teamed up with Paddy Power to launch a new campaign to help find missing people by filling a stand at Fir Park with ‘missing’ fans.

In the time it takes to watch a football match, 35 people are reported missing in the UK.

As Scottish Premiership action returns home this weekend, our south stand has been filled with the same cardboard cutouts you’ll have seen at games across Europe and that we have in our Cooper Stand.

But, rather than showing the faces of cheering supporters, the Paddy Power cutouts are instead completely blank.

That’s to represent the thousands of people across the UK, that are missing from their families – rather than just football.

Spread across the stand, 1,190 silhouetted cut-outs have been installed by Paddy Power in time for our first home game of the season against Dundee United on Saturday.

As part of the campaign, which is in conjunction with the charity Missing People, the silhouette stand will remain in place until fans return to the stadium.

Spokesman Paddy Power said: “We all know fans are missing from football at the moment, but some are missing from wider life, too.

“We hope this campaign, and striking image, can spark conversations across the country – as the majority of our customer base are young men, the demographic that’s most at risk of going missing.”

Jo Youle, chief executive of Missing People, said: “This is a highly visible and needed opportunity for families in communities across the UK to raise awareness of their missing loved one – at a time when it is so hard to search due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“We will also be getting the message out via Paddy Power stores to reach a key group of people at higher risk of going missing: men aged 18 to 39.

“Important funding through this partnership will help more than 500 people in crisis through 24/7 support on our helpline (116 000), at a time when more people than ever are needing that support.”

Suzanne Reid, head of commercial at Motherwell FC, added: “The club is delighted to support this campaign and the work of Missing People.

“We hope the display helps raise awareness of the help that is available from the charity.”

ABOUT MISSING PEOPLE

Missing People supports people who are thinking about going missing, have gone, or after they return – and their loved ones. Our services give people the opportunity to talk through how to stay safe, connect them with a place of safety, and signpost them to additional local or national support services, if required.

Missing People is one of a handful of charities providing a special Helpline assigned by Ofcom to protect the wellbeing of people in great difficulty. We are the only provider working with high-risk groups affected by ‘missing’ across the UK. We work in partnership with police forces, who refer vulnerable missing people and their relatives to our essential support services.

If you have been affected, you can access support by calling of texting Missing People on 116 000. It is free, confidential and 24/7. Or visit missingpeople.org.uk.

Motherwell v Dundee United is available to watch online on Saturday.

While fans can’t attend the Scottish Premiership match, there’s a live stream available for supporters of both clubs.

It costs £12 to watch the game. Kick off is at 3pm BST.

To get your ticket, head to live.motherwellfc.co.uk now. Choose the pay-per-view option and sign up.

Season ticket holder?

You get free access to watch the match. You do not need to pay anything extra.

To watch, head to live.motherwellfc.co.uk and choose the season ticket option.

Have your season card ready. Then press sign in in the top right corner and enter your details using the following example:

Username: firstname-surname-customernumber
Password: customernumber

For example, Joe Bloggs’ customer number on his season ticket is 24141.

He would sign in as joe-bloggs-24141
His password would be 24141

Please change your password after you sign in for the first time.

Your customer number is displayed on your season card. If you don’t know it, please call 01698 333333 between 9am and 5pm, email tickets@motherwellfc.co.uk or send a private message to @MotherwellFC on Twitter.

If you have more than one season ticket in your family, you will each have your own login details. You may only receive one email if you share an email address on our system.

If you have two first names on your season card, for example your name is Peter John Morrison, then please put a space between your first names in your username.

Dundee United are the visitors in the first Scottish Premiership match of the 2020/21 season at Fir Park on Saturday.

The match is available to watch online on a pay-per-view basis at live.motherwellfc.co.uk.

Season ticket holders can watch for free. Kick-off is at 3pm BST.

Tale of the tape

Saturday will see the first competitive meeting of the two sides since March 2016, when ‘Well ran out 2-1 winners in the Premiership.

Goals from Marvin Johnson and Louis Moult completed a comeback win, after Henri Anier had opened the scoring against his old side.

An early pre-season meeting at Motherwell’s training ground ended in a 1-0 win for the Steelmen, with Jordan White netting the only goal.

Form guide

Dundee United drew their first game back in the Premiership on Saturday with a 1-1 result against St Johnstone.

Nicky Clark had opened the scoring from the spot after just six minutes and their prospects looked even brighter when Michael O’Halloran was sent off just before the break.

The Saints came back however, with Liam Craig netting 10 minutes into the second half.

Motherwell missed a penalty and passed up numerous scoring chances as they lost out 1-0 at Ross County in their opening match on Monday night.

Watch live at home

Saturday’s match is available to stream online for fans of both clubs.

Available for £12, buy early to secure your ticket for the game. Just head to live.motherwellfc.co.uk and choose the pay-per-view option.

Based outside of the UK/Ireland?

All Scottish Premiership games, home and away, are available to view on our live streaming platform to fans based abroad.

Priced at £150 for the season, or £15 per month, sign up at live.motherwellfc.co.uk today.

We’re testing our live streaming service ahead of our first season ticket holder match this weekend.

To make sure everyone is set up to watch Saturday’s game with Dundee United, we are asking you to log in to your account between 5pm and 8pm on Wednesday 5 August.

When you sign in, click on the test event. You’ll see a preview video which tells you your login has been successful.

If you experience difficulty logging in during this time, immediate help will be on hand by emailing tvsupport@motherwellfc.co.uk.

Everyone who buys a season ticket before 2pm on Wednesday 5 August will be enrolled and able to log in. If you buy after this time, we will invite you separately to test your account.

All season ticket holders will receive an email on Wednesday afternoon confirming your login details.

How to sign in to the test

First, head to live.motherwellfc.co.uk. Have your season card ready.

Then press sign in in the top right corner and enter your details using the following example:

Username: firstname-surname-customernumber
Password: customernumber

For example, Joe Bloggs’ customer number on his season ticket is 24141.

He would sign in as joe-bloggs-24141
His password would be 24141

Please change your password after you sign in for the first time.

Your customer number is displayed on your season card. If you don’t know it, please send a private message to @MotherwellFC on Twitter.

If you have more than one season ticket in your family, you will each have your own login details. You may only receive one email if you share an email address on our system.

If you have two first names on your season card, for example your name is Peter John Morrison, then please put a space between your first names in your username.

For as long as we are playing behind closed doors or in front of reduced crowds at Fir Park, you’ll have access to this service free of charge.

It’s important you don’t share your details with anyone else. Your stream will only work for one person at a time.

We can’t wait to see you back at Fir Park soon.

If you’ve any other questions or need help with the streaming service, please email tvsupport@motherwellfc.co.uk.

It is with regret that we learned of the death of former player Willie Hunter on Sunday at the age of 80.

Hunter, or Billy to his friends and family, would become the darling of every Motherwell fan of a certain generation.

Following a few years of typical Motherwell Football Club inconsistency, which included relegation, a major decision was taken between the boardroom and the manager’s chair during the summer of 1956.

After a year in the Fir Park hotseat, Bobby Ancell implemented a policy of no longer signing ready made “seasoned” football players from other clubs, and going back to pursuing a strategy of developing talented youngsters from Scotland’s central belt in true Motherwell tradition.

Of course this was a philosophy that had worked well in previous generations, which included producing league winners Stevenson, Ferrier and McFadyen.

That close season would see the first moves to support the new thinking at Fir Park. Youngsters Bert McCann, William Cowie, Pat Holton and ‘keeper Alan Wylie all arrived from Queens’ Park, Kilsyth Rangers, Hamilton Accies and Penicuik respectively.

To make way for the intake of exciting talent, nine players were freed including some Motherwell legends such as Wilson Humphries and Willie Redpath, who between them had made over 620 appearances for ‘Well, scoring 131 goals and winning the League Cup, the Scottish Cup, as well as delivering a Division B Championship.

Whilst the named four signings went on to contribute to a decent season for the Fir Parkers, it was probably the youngster who had signed on from Edinburgh Norton, a year later that would go on to make his name in claret and amber shine more brightly than the others.

That man was the aforementioned William Hunter.

Within months it had became clear that the manager had snapped up a dazzling footballer who was both a brilliant ball player and a determined performer.

As Willie was coming through Fir Park’s front door, another couple of Motherwell legends were heading out. Willie Kilmarnock and Johnny Aitkenhead had been at the club for 30 years between them, and when they left the average age of the first team dropped dramatically from 31 to 25.

Willie began his Motherwell career playing, and starring, for the Fir Park reserves alongside fellow teenager Ian St. John.

Such was the friendship that the young duo struck up “Sinjy” would often spend his Saturday nights in Edinburgh staying over with Hunter until the following day.

On the Sunday afternoons they’d often play matches on waste ground against neighbouring “streets”, cultivating a partnership that would terrorise Scottish football for years to come. The highly enjoyable Sunday kickabouts came to a premature end the afternoon that the ball flew over a fence, and when the young laddie Hunter went to retrieve it, he found his manager Ancell holding the ball.

Somebody had ‘grassed’ the young teammates in, and that was the end of the fun.

Weeks later, he was brought into the first team at Dens Park in mid-October 1957. Although the result didn’t go to the liking of the travelling ‘Well fans, they had taken some solace from the performance of the young Edinburgh lad who had made the jump from amateur football to top division action within a couple of months with ease.

His first appearance on Fir Park came a fortnight later when Falkirk visited and left with the points following a 5-2 defeat of the hosts. Despite the loss, the name of Willie Hunter was on the lips of every Motherwell fan as they made their way home the wet Saturday evening.

His first goal came at Parkhead in April when netted the opener in a thrilling 2-2 draw between the teams. Eleven appearances for Motherwell was a good debut season for Hunter, as he tried to earn a berth in a terrific developing Fir Park squad under the guidance of Ancell.

The summer of 1958 saw the last of the 1952 cup winners leave with the departures of Charlie Cox, Andy Paton and Archie Shaw, which brought the average age down again to a little over 22.

When the team was announced for the opening day of the new season at home to Partick Thistle, Hunter’s name was included. Although it was goals from Ian St. John, twice, and Jim Forrest which won the game, it was Hunter who was man of the match having produced a sublime display.

The start of the season had been promising, with only one defeat in the first six fixtures before Third Lanark arrived in North Lanarkshire. The team that day would always be remembered as a typical Ancell Babes XI: Hastie Weir, McSeveney, Holton, Aitken, Martis, McCann, Hunter, Sammy Reid, St. John, Quinn and Andy Weir.

The Babes were on fire that afternoon, winning 8-1 as the Fir Park crowd began to realise their favourites were developing into something very special indeed.

The young inside forward Hunter only missed four games in that season, scoring 13 goals, which saw Motherwell narrowly miss out on the league title.

International honours were also on their way, with eight players being recognised in various squads, including Hunter who was capped for the Scottish league.

Willie had become a forward of uncommon grace, which had won over the Motherwell fans with performances that could not be measured merely in goals and assists, but that glistened with the flair of an artist who could deceive defenders with a subtle touch or shimmy.

The following season saw ground improvements at Fir Park raising the capacity to 40,000 and a training pitch at the Motherwell stadium to help protect the Fir Park surface, keeping it in top condition instigated by Ancell’s football ideals.

Once again the Babes delighted people the length and breadth of the country, with Hunter an integral part of the team. Indeed Willie only missed one competitive game, a Scottish Cup firs round rout of Highland League side Keith, netting another seven times.

Whilst it was another good season for the club, finishing fifth, it was arguably two glamour friendlies in April that summed up the season for the Fir Park faithful.

18,000 punters clicked through the Fir Park turnstiles to see Athletic Bilbao despite torrential rain hammering down throughout the 90 minutes. A delightful Willie Hunter goal put Motherwell two goals up after just 25 minutes, before the visitors stunned the large crowd by levelling before the interval.

However, an Ian St. John shot two minutes into the second period was enough to give the home side a deserved win.

A couple of weeks later, it was Brazilian giants Flamengo who turned up at Fir Park on the back of an impressive 5-0 win over Manchester United. After the visitors opened the scoring six minutes in, the 25,000 crowd were saluting a wonderful goal by Hunter which seemed to inspire the Steelmen.

A St. John hat trick and a Pat Quinn penalty were soon forgotten when Hunter produced a sublime finish to leave the Fir Parkers 6-1 up, and thoroughly entertaining a by now ecstatic home support.

Another hat trick by St. John left the Brazilians shell-shocked as Motherwell trooped of the pitch having trounced the tourists 9-2. At the end of that season there was a definite air of disappointment that such a talented outfit could only finish fifth despite many memorable displays throughout the campaign.

These inconsistencies remained over the next couple of years with fifth and then ninth place finishes, however it didn’t deter Hunter from turning in impeccable displays week in and week out.

Only four games were missed by the Motherwell magician over these two seasons as he became a model of consistency within a talented squad. His good run of form came to an abrupt end in October 1962 at Fir Park during a 2-0 defeat to Celtic, when he fractured his forearm which kept him out of action for a full calendar year, where his recovery had to be aided with a bone being taken from his hip.

When eventually he was welcomed back into the first team, it was amid a seven-goal thriller at Fir Park with the Steelmen edging out the visiting Hibees.

Sadly his fitness lasted barely a month before he was back in the physio room, where he remained for the rest of that campaign. Season 1964/65 saw Willie getting back to his best, in an albeit declining Motherwell side, with 30 appearances before injury struck again in March 1965, leaving him sidelined once more until the December of that year.

By the time he was available for selection to Ancell, Motherwell were struggling having only won twice in the league, and firmly entrenched in a relegation battle.

Almost immediately the Fir Parkers saw an upturn in their fortunes with their talisman back in the fold, winning 10 games to finish 13th in the 18-team top division.

The new season, in the wake of England’s World Cup triumph, would be Hunter’s last at Fir Park. Despite a 5-0 win over St. Mirren in Paisley, with Bobby Campbell scoring all five goals and hitting Dunfermline for six at Fir Park with Dixie Deans scoring a treble and Hunter notching a double, things weren’t looking great for the Steelmen as New Year approached.

Hunter scored his final goals in claret and amber down at Somerset Park in March 1967 in a exciting 3-3 draw, before his final game at home to Hearts on the last game of that season, a game in which Deans scored the only goal.

Relegation had never been a real threat that season, but it was obvious to everybody that an end of an era was upon us, and Ancell left for Dundee.

Always amongst the goals for Motherwell, Hunter had in fact laid on far more than he had scored, which was a proud claim since he bagged more than 50 competitive goals for the Steelmen.

Whilst at Fir Park he won three full Scotland caps, four Under 23 caps and four appearances for the Scottish League.

The only black spot in his glittering Fir Park career was a string of troublesome injuries that prevented Hunter from hitting the 300 mark for appearances. He finally left North Lanarkshire in 1967, when Detroit Cougars paid £14,000 for his signature as the inaugural North American Soccer League was about to kick off.

A little more than a year later, after the Cougars had folded, Willie came back home to his local club, who he’d always supported, when Hibernian snapped him up.

Willie Hunter was a inside Ffrward who usually played on the left hand side, with the experience and knowledge of playing as a winger; a real craftsman, skilled in ball control and distribution.

His coup de grace though was a marvellous body swerve, better according to many aficionados of the time, than the legendary Gordon Smith. After his playing career had come to an end following a brief stint in South Africa, Willie was appointed assistant manager to his friend and fellow ‘Well legend Ian St. John at Portsmouth.

After three years on the south coast he took the opportunity to manage Queen of the South in 1978, which didn’t last long before his final stint as a manager took him to Inverness as he took over the reins of Caledonian in the Highland League.

After he finished with the beautiful game, Willie showed he was just as comfortable with a pen as he had been through the years with a ball, writing a book about a trek his wife and he had made.

More recently, Willie spent some time being an ambassador for Football Memories, the charity that seeks to help those with dementia find a link to the past through reminiscence of games, memorabilia and photographs.

Willie had a brilliant football career in what was undoubtedly a tough school. His generous gifts to the game gave him little financial rewards, yet he continued to give to the game and his colleagues afterwards.

He was a man of substance and opinions, who was the subject of much praise from those who played with, against, or indeed, watched him.

This magical footballer was perhaps the most complete ever to pull our famous colours over his head, and is someone this club is proud to have played a large part in his life.

“We started the game poorly. Then we dominated. But we couldn’t take our chances.”

Stephen Robinson reflects on loss at Ross County.