Bairns rattle shaky ’Well rearguard

Nov 20 2008 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

FOLLOWING their midweek exploits against Rangers, Motherwell were brought crashing back to earth with a costly defeat at Falkirk on Saturday.

The Fir Park side performed poorly and basically got what they deserved from the game.

Motherwell started well and created early chances, but both David Clarkson and Marc Fitzpatrick somehow turned the ball wide from close range with keeper Scott Flinders beaten.

They were punished for that when Falkirk took the lead in 37 minutes.

A misplaced pass by Paul Quinn was intercepted by Stuart Lovell, who sent Graeme Barratt free on the right and his cross was perfect for Michael Higdon to control and drill past Graeme Smith from 20 yards.

Motherwell struggled in the second half and even the introduction of Chris Porter and Jamie Murphy failed to sufficiently raise them, although the English striker did force a stunning one-handed save from Flinders.

MOTHERWELL: G. Smith, Quinn, Hammell, Reynolds, Malcolm, Lasley (Porter, 56), Hughes, Fitzpatrick, McGarry (Murphy, 66), Clarkson (D. Smith, 80), Sutton. Subs (not used): Nielsen, Klimpl, O’Brien, Connolly.