3 things we learned as Motherwell ride out VAR chaos with two stars inspiring in victory over St Mirren

Motherwell edged out a 2-1 win against St Mirren in an all-action Premiership affair.

Killian Phillips’ opener for the away side was quickly cancelled out by Lennon Miller in a fast-paced start to proceedings. Miller made it a brace before half-time as the game changed after said interval with Dan Casey’s red card for denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

That handed Saints a chance to score from the penalty spot but Aston Oxborough followed up a smart first half stop with an excellent penalty save. Motherwell weren’t a man light for long with Scott Tanser sent off before the hour mark for a second booking and eventually another league win was secured. It leaves Motherwell on 10 points after six Premiership games, sitting fourth in the table.

On a high after a Premier Sports Cup quarter-final win over Dundee United, manager Stuart Kettlewell knew his men had to be on their guard against a St Mirren side who finished in the top six last season.

They learned quickly of the repercussions of making a mistake against a team with the capability to punish. A loose pass out from the back was quickly picked up by St Mirren, Phillips fed the ball and expertly guiding a shot low into the bottom corner.

Miller netted a stoppage-time penalty against United last week and he up for a spot-kick again inside 20 minutes in this game. A corner into the box wasn’t dealt with by the Buddies and Marcus Fraser was booked for bringing Casey down, with the teenage midfielder finishing comfortably.

The hosts were playing with an air of swagger. Before their leveller, Moses Ebiye hit one into the side-netting and Elery Balcombe was forced to claw a Casey cross away from finding the bottom corner. They were in control possession-wise but a scrambled away clearance from a Buddies corner showed the importance of scoring next.

Miller was the one to find that, after a lengthy VAR check for handball in the build-up. He found enough space deep in the Saints half to fire a lovely low effort into the corner to hand the hosts a half-time lead. Oxborough had a literally huge hand in that, reacting at point-blank range to deny Gogic a certain equaliser. The complexion of the game changed almost immediately into the second half as a Philipps’ latest effort was deemed to have been stopped by the hand of Casey on the line.

It was a red card despite home protests and a VAR check, but Mark O’Hara’s penalty was well-stopped by Oxborough, at the beginning of a Saints onslaught. They weren’t carving out major chances though and the Buddies had a red card of their own when Tanser picked up a second booking for a foul on Stephen O’Donnell, as this game entered the bonkers category. It levelled the game back out as an even contest.

Miller had a couple of half-chances at a hat-trick as both teams brought on attacking reinforcements. Weirdly, for all the attacking might thrown on and both teams playing a man less, it was in the final quarter the match turned into a slugfest, but that suited those in the home camp who have now won five of their last six games. Here are three things we learned from the game.

Good times keep rolling

When Saints opened the scoring, there was no nervous energy coming from the stands or the pitch. This Motherwell side has so much confidence right now and they have a fanbase buying fully into it. With five wins in six, the club have a platform to push for the top six and with a cup semi-final to come, the mood isn’t likely to dip too much for the next while with good results aplenty.

The Ox

You’ve got to hand it to new Motherwell number one. Coming in from two seasons on the bench was a tough assignment but how he has stepped up to the plater. His penalty save was good but the first half claw to deny Gogic was unbelievable. Seems to install so much confidence in those in front of him.

Two up top

Kettlewell appeared to match his counterpart in the opposition dugout to kick this game off, going for two recognised strikers in Ebiye and Zach Robinson instead of just the latter. Perhaps a bit more open at the back, it dropped Miller deeper to great effect and allowed Robinson to facilitate for Ebiye, who had a few glimpses at goal. It’ll be interesting to see if the managers opts for this again, ending the match with two up top too with Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Tony Watt, despite being a man short.