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Under 20s manager Stephen Craigan was generally pleased with his side’s performance this afternoon, but admitted mistakes led to their downfall.

The youngsters lost 1-0 in a table-topping clash with Ross County this afternoon, despite looking the stronger side for the majority of the match.

Speaking to MFC TV at full time, Craigan admitted his disappointment, but was able to draw the positives away from the defeat.

The Northern Irishman said: “We’re disappointed because, aside from the goal, there was only a ten-minute period or so when we couldn’t get the ball and I felt that if anybody was going to win the game it was going to be us.

“It’s disappointing because we make the long journey up, we had a slight change of shape that I felt worked really well for us because there were some good performances, but we just lacked that little bit of quality in the final third.”

[pullquote]Overall, I’m generally pleased with it but we lost the game because somebody didn’t match a one-two and somebody didn’t pick up a set play – that’s what cost you.[/pullquote]

He added: “I don’t just mean the strikers – I mean the final ball in to the box or the final cross at times when we got in behind them.

“That’s when players need to take a little bit of responsibility at times – relax a bit and put good balls in to good areas.”

Aside from the result, Craigan focussed his mind on the individual performances and admitted there were positives to take.

He said: “Overall, I’m generally pleased with it but we lost the game because somebody didn’t match a one-two and somebody didn’t pick up a set play – that’s what cost you.”

You can watch the under-20s boss chat to MFC TV in full on the official YouTube channel.

Motherwell U20s lost 1-0 away to Ross County in a top of the table Development League clash this afternoon.

A header from Staggies centre-back Mathew Hall secured the victory for the home side and left the young Steelmen with a disappointing treck home.

Stephen Craigan welcomed the return of Jack McMillan to his under 20s side and called upon senior players Joe Chalmers and David Ferguson to the starting eleven. The Northern Irishman opted to partner James Scott and Dylan Mackin together up front, while Jake Hastie dropped to the bench.

It was an evenly contested encounter for the opening 20 minutes, with the Steelmen going closest to an opener following a swift move on the counter. Some neat play between Scott, Davie Turnbull and Adam Livingstone down the left caught the backtracking Staggies out, but when Mackin received the ball to his feet in the area, his neat turn and stabbed shot at goal beat County keeper Mark Foden, but went just wide of the far post.

The visiting Steelmen were shading the match in terms of chances, but were mostly limited to efforts from distance. Mackin struck an ambitious effort from 20-yards which flew over the bar and, just seconds later, Turnbull saw his long range strike flash narrowly past the post.

Ollie Pain pulled off a tremendous save on the half hour mark to deny the towering Oscar Gobern from heading County in to the lead. The tall midfielder rose highest from a corner, only to be denied by superb reactions from Pain low to his right.

Tom Fry battled well to rob Russell Dingwall of possession deep in his own half just before the break, but the County midfielder dragged the Welshman to the deck as he drove towards the Staggies goal, leading to the first booking of the match.

It remained goalless heading in to the break but in the second period, the home side took their opportunity from a set piece after a fairly quiet start to the second 45.

It came in the 70^th minute, when centre back Mathew Hall got up to nod home from a cross following a freekick, leaving Pain with no chance in the Motherwell goal.

Just over five minutes later, and not long after coming on, Motherwell should have drawn level when a golden opportunity fell for Hastie.

Chalmers, picking the ball up in the Staggies half, strode forward and curled a perfect ball for the run of the sub, but the winger couldn’t get the touch it needed and missed a glorious chance from just a few yards.

County nearly doubled their lead when Keillor-Dunn cut in from the left and curled a terrific, right-footed shot towards the far top corner, but it flew narrowly past the post.

The Steelmen pegged the hosts back in the final minutes but a strong Staggies backline held strong for a narrow victory at the Highland Football Academy in Dingwall.

Motherwell: Pain, McMillan, Livingstone, Maguire, Ferguson, Chalmers, Fry, Turnbull, Mackin (Hastie ’73), Scott (Agyeman ’84), Gordon

Unused subs: Pettigrew, Armstrong

The SPFL has today confirmed a recent Development League defeat to Dunfermline has been annulled with Motherwell awarded a 0-3 win.

The Pars mistakenly played fullback Conner Duthie against the Steelmen in a Development League match played on 21 February at New Central Park.

Duthie, who scored the ‘winning’ goal in a 3-2 success for Dunfermline, was due to be suspended following an accumulation of cautions.

And after a hearing, the SPFL today informed Motherwell that the result would be wiped and indeed, awarded as a 0-3 win to the Steelmen.

[pullquote]It’s a bit of good fortune and we’ll hopefully use it as a bounce ahead of the remaining games in both the League and Youth Cup over the next few months.[/pullquote]

That change in the table puts ‘Well top of the Development League on 44 points, one ahead of today’s opponents Ross County who are tied with Hibernian on 43, albeit with games in hand.

Under 20s boss Stephen Craigan said: “I feel for Dunfermline as these accidents can happen from time to time.

“To be fair, they were straight on the phone to us and the league after the match.

“It’s a bit of good fortune and we’ll hopefully use it as a bounce ahead of the remaining games in both the League and Youth Cup over the next few months.”

Motherwell under 20s manager Stephen Craigan looked ahead to his sides clash with Ross County tomorrow following a busy week around the club.

Speaking to MFC TV this afternoon, the Northern Irishman spoke about the 20s performance last week and, on the anniversary of their memorable 3-0 Youth Cup semi-final win over the Staggies, admitted his youngsters have fond memories of trips north.

Craigan said: “We’re looking forward to it, in our last game against Celtic the boys performed really well, they were doing parts of their game that they hadn’t done previously, they defended well, the tempo of the game was good.

[pullquote]We’re looking forward to it, in our last game against Celtic the boys performed really well, they were doing parts of their game that they hadn’t done previously, they defended well, the tempo of the game was good.[/pullquote]

“Ross County have been on a good run, Stuart Kettlewell has got them playing well and I think they normally play more experienced players.”

He added: “It will be difficult for us, we understand that, but it was a year ago today that we went up there in the Scottish Youth Cup semi-final and won 3-0.

“I’m not normally one for omens, but when someone told me that today it was nice so I think the boys have positive memories of heading up north and playing up there.”

You can see Craigan’s full interview at MFC TV’s official YouTube channel.

Motherwell under 20s travel to face Ross County in the Development League tomorrow afternoon, looking to extend their winning run to two matches.

The youngsters make the long trip to face the Northerners on the back of a 1-0 win over Celtic last week, and sit just two points behind the joint league leaders.

A penalty from Ryan Bowman against the Glaswegian outfit ensured the ‘Well vastly improved on their recent run of three losses in four matches and kept pace with table toppers Hibernian.

The Staggies, who also come in to the match on the back of a game against Celtic, will be keen to return to winning ways following their 1-1 draw on Friday.

Tomorrow’s encounter at the Highland Football Academy in Dingwall is the second meeting between the two sides following the 1-1 draw earlier this season at the Excelsior Stadium.

The hosts have a two point lead over the Steelmen and currently sit level on points with Hibs at the summit of the Development League.

You can follow all of the action from the 2pm kick off on twitter – @MotherwellFC

Don’t miss the match highlights, as well as post-match reaction, on MFC TV’s official YouTube channel.

When it comes to football the language used is often full of hyperbole, yet when it comes to Ally Maxwell there is no exaggeration.

Ally could quite literally have died for the cause such was the extent of the injuries he suffered in the 1991 Scottish Cup Final.

Thumped by John Clark, Maxwell soldiered on for the remainder of the match to ensure the Scottish Cup was wrapped in claret and amber ribbons.  It was only post-match that the severity of his injury was fully revealed when it was discovered he had ruptured his spleen.

Ally joined the club in 1981 from Fir Park Boys Club and, like many of his contemporaries, he was given his first taste of top team action by Bobby Watson, in April 1984.

Maxwell started season 1984’85 in the team under new manager Tommy McLean before becoming a long-term understudy to John Gardiner.

Ally would eventually see off challenges from both Gardiner and Cammy Duncan, making the most of the opportunity presented to him midway through season 1988’89. Keeping a clean sheet in his return to the side in a 1-0 win over Dundee in December 1988, he would never look back.

In his first full season as number one, ‘Maxi’ helped the club top the table for the first time in decades after a 1-0 midweek over Rangers in October 1989 and on to their highest league finish since the mid-seventies.

The following season saw him lift the Cup of course, playing every minute of every round in the run to the Scottish Cup Final victory.

A fallout with Tommy McLean over a new deal sadly saw Maxwell frozen out and replaced by Billy Thomson, and he briefly went on loan with Bolton during season 1991’92 and spent time with Liverpool without completing a transfer.

Eventually, Ally joined Rangers upon leaving Motherwell in 1992 having made over 130 appearances for the Steelmen where he would win a League Cup Winners Medal and face Dundee Utd once more in the Scottish Cup Final.

The Terrors would be his next port of call before signing off in Scottish football with a spell playing and then managing Greenock Morton.

Now coaching in the USA, it was a highlight for ‘Well fans to see him return for the 25^th Scottish Cup anniversary celebrations last year.

The best of the action from Rugby Park as the Steelmen come from behind to beat Kilmarnock 1-2 with goals from Carl McHugh and Zak Jules.

Carl McHugh admitted just how important it was for the Steelmen to bounce back from defeat last week as Motherwell won 2-1 away to Kilmarnock today.

The Irishman lined up in the heart of the Fir Parker’s back three, with Richard Tait and Stevie Hammell flanking the trio in wingback roles, and he played a key role in the victory.

Solid defensively, Carl popped up with his first goal in claret and amber too and spoke to MFC TV at full time.

He said: “It’s a big three points and it was very important that we bounce back from last week.

[pullquote]It’s only one win so it’s nothing to get carried away with and it will take a few more of them to make up for what happened last week, but it’s a start.[/pullquote]

“It’s only one win so it’s nothing to get carried away with and it will take a few more of them to make up for what happened last week, but it’s a start.”

He added: “There were eleven of us on the park today. The back three or back five and Sammy in goals, we all worked so hard throughout the week and we stuck together.

“Everyone makes mistakes throughout the game but we covered each other and had each others backs and we’re going to need plenty more of that for the rest of the season.”

You can watch Carl’s full post match interview and more exclusive content at MFC TV’s official YouTube channel.

Images from today’s 1-2 win over Kilmarnock in the Ladbrokes Premiership at Rugby Park.

Snaps courtesy of SNSPix

[svgallery name=”kilmarnock040317″]

Caretaker ‘Well boss Stephen Robinson said that he couldn’t have asked for more from the players as Motherwell won 2-1 away to Kilmarnock this afternoon in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

In a dramatic clash at Rugby Park, the Steelmen came from a goal down and survived a penalty miss in the final seconds of the game to pick up all three points.

Speaking to MFC TV at full time, Robinson hailed the work-rate of his players following a difficult week at the club.

He said: “I’m obviously delighted for the football club to get the three points today and get out of the bottom two.

[pullquote]It’s a start, it’s just a start but I couldn’t ask for any more from the players today because you could see they were playing for the club, they were putting their bodies on the line, they implemented a plan that we had worked on all week.[/pullquote]

“It’s a start, it’s just a start but I couldn’t ask for any more from the players today because you could see they were playing for the club, they were putting their bodies on the line, they implemented a plan that we had worked on all week and rightly so because there’s been a lot of criticism and they’ve responded really well.”

It makes it sweeter because it definitely wasn’t a penalty, and I’ve said to the press already that it’s difficult for the referee’s with the game going at 100 miles per hour, but it was justified that they didn’t score from the penalty.

I thought our performance for 60 minutes of the game was very good, when there’s a positivity around the place and they believed in what they were doing, and you can see the outcome.”

You can see Robinson’s full post match interview at MFC TV’s official YouTube channel.