I watched Hearts vs Motherwell from the press box: Three things I spotted as injury problems tell in Gorgie
Motherwell were on the road to face Hearts in their first fixture of 2025.
Motherwell lost out 1-0 against Hearts in their latest Premiership clash.
The visitors at Tynecastle started poorly and the hosts imposed their game upon them. They had the ball in and around the box plenty before a botched dealing of a corner allowed Hearts to get in front. First Stephen O’Donnell put the ball behind under no pressure, and goalkeeper Aston Oxborough failed to deal with the cross.
A VAR check ensued for a foul but it wouldn’t come to the rescue as Musa Drammeh was awarded the goal. The Hearts pressure kept on coming and while Oxborough wasn’t being peppered, Motherwell were struggling to get any sort of foothold in the game and boss Stuart Kettlewell’s frustration was shown in a triple change coming back out the tunnel.
It did stabilise the team but again a lack of attacking threat plagued their chances of bringing this back level, with Sam Nicholson, Davor and Moses Ebiye all introduced. Hearts continued to spurn chances, with Jorge Grant hitting the bar from range. Then one big chance appeared, Moses Ebiye denied a leveller with a super reaction save from Craig Gordon inside the box. Then Jack Vale was stopped again by the outstanding reflexes of the veteran. In the end, they couldn’t find a way through.
The club sit sixth in the table ahead of hosting Aberdeen on Sunday. I was in the press box at Tynecastle for this one. Here are three things I spotted.
Forward impetus
Never mind a shot on target, it took until the second half for Motherwell just to get a shot on goal. The first half was slow and it cut the look of a team jaded from the demanding run of games combined with an injury list that with every return, is taking a player to the treatment table with it.
Ringing changes
There was a rare change in shape as Motherwell threw whatever they had at Hearts in the dying embers. Four at the back was deployed as the hosts got deeper and it did leave them vulnerable on the counter attack. Still there wasn’t enough penetration as the miss of striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos also proved a blow for Motherwell.
Missing Miller
The lack of Lennon Miller in the midfield was apparent. He’s the glue between defence and attack, the dictator of play. Motherwell really struggled in the opening 25 minutes and part of that was just being unable to put a foot on the ball, something Miller excels at. A testament to him that he’s turned so key for this team so young but if his foot injury is to be keeping him out for any length of time, solutions will be required ASAP. He’s out for a couple of months and others will be required to step up.