Well slump to another defeat

Stuart McCall suffered his first defeat as Well boss in what was a poor performance at Tannadice tonight.

We were almost a goal down in the opening five minutes, when a Goodwillie free kick set up Johnny Russell to shoot from 18 yards out but his shot hit the post and bounced clear.

From then on to half time the busiest man on the park was Well keeper Darren Randolph, as our 4-5-1 system allowed United far too much space on the ball.

The big keeper made excellent stops from a 20 yard shot from Prince Buaben, Goodwillie from an acute angle and then a fine diving stop from Gomis. The best Well could muster was a Jamie Murphy effort that shaved the post from 20 yards out.

Motherwell had a lucky escape at the start of the second period, when Dixon tumbled in the box under pressure from Humphrey, but ref Brines decided the United man had dived and showed him a yellow card.

They did finally score only two minutes after that, and it was an old problem for Motherwell as they failed to deal with a corner. Dixon’s kick was sent to the back post where Kenneth was on hand to head back into the box for Russell to head in off the post.

United dominated until the closing stages without really looking like adding to their lead. Motherwell made their best chance on 84 minutes when a cross from Murphy was sent to the back post but Pernis pulled off a stunning save to keep out Humphrey’s header.

Untied sealed the points in the last minute, young sub Armstrong picked up a loose ball and headed for the box before laying in Goodwillie to rifle low past Randolph.

This was a performance lacking in any spark or confidence, and with Gow, Blackman and Fitzpatrick all moving out McCall needs to get bodies in to bolster a squad that is paper thin and looking tired.