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Motherwell kicked off the cinch Premiership season with a 0-1 win away to St Mirren in Paisley.

Kevin van Veen’s penalty in the 42nd minute was enough to take all three points back to Lanarkshire.

PRE-MATCH

Steven Hammell made three changes to the side that lost to Sligo. In came Solholm, Shields and Goss and out went Mugabi, Tierney and Slattery (suspended).

The winning goal

Just before half-time Motherwell made the breakthrough. Blair Spittal saw his shot blocked by a hand in the box and John Beaton didn’t hesitate to point to the spot.

Van Veen cooly stepped up and sent Carson the wrong way to give ‘Well the lead at the break.

Five talking points

• Motherwell were forced into an early change as Paul McGinn suffered a nasty head clash with Mark O’Hara. He came off with blood pouring from the wound and will be assessed for next week’s game.
• With the first half coming to a close, Liam Kelly pulled off an early contender for save of the season. Jonah Ayunga looked certain to score with his head from 12 yards but the Scotland International made  an incredible save, with his weight going in the opposite directed he clawed it away from goal and palmed the follow-up away to safety.
• Motherwell finished the game with ten men. Ricki Lamie saw red for a clumsy looking challenge on Baccus on the edge of the box.
• Incredibly, Kelly produced a second world-class stop. This time Tait swung in a cross from the left wing and Main’s touch could easily have deceived the ‘keeper but he got down sharply and scooped the ball wide of the post.
• 18-year-old Kian Speirs was handed his first-team debut. Stevie Hammell trusted the academy graduate in the middle of the park as he replaced Sean Goss with 20 minutes to go. The youngster will be pleased with his contribution.

Teams

Motherwell: Kelly, McGinn (O’Donnell, 19), Solholm, Lamie (Sent off, 82) , Carroll, Spittal (Cornelius, 62), Goss (Speirs, 67), Shields, van Veen (Mugabi, 85), Morris (Efford, 68).

St Mirren:  Carson, Gallagher,  Shaughnessy, Dunne, Strain (Henderson, 73), Baccus, Erhahon, O’Hara (Flynn, 45), Tanser (Tait, 52), Ayunga, Grieve (Main, 62)

Attendance: 5,668

“We only had a short period of time to work with the players, but the message from the start was to come here and win.”

We kick off our 2022/23 cinch Premiership campaign against St Mirren on Sunday,

Kick-off is at 3pm at SMiSA Stadium

Important information

Section N1 of the North Stand (away) will be closed. Therefore, the rest of the away stand will be unreserved seating.

Tickets

You will be able get your tickets online direct from SMFC up until just after kick-off. There will be no cash gates and no tickets can be purchased from SMiSA Stadium on the day of the game.

Ticket prices:

Adults: £25
Over 65, under 18 & FT students: £15
Under 12 (when bought with an adult): £6

Ambulant and wheelchair are priced at the above age status with carer free of charge (this must be bought in advance via the Fir Park ticket office). St Mirren have allocated 5 wheelchair accessible parking spaces, for anyone wishing to use these they will be distributed on a first come first serve basis.

How to Follow the Game Online

PPV and virtual season tickets options are not available for cinch Premiership matches this season. This is the case for all cinch Premiership clubs.

There will be live commentary for those in the UK, available at live.motherwellfc.co.uk

The story of the match

Motherwell go into this game with Steven Hammell and Brian Kerr in the dugout, following the departure of Graham Alexander.

Hall-of-famer Hammell will go up against former Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson, as both sides look to get off to a wining start.

There is a distinct ‘Well connection with in the St Mirren dressing room, with Trevor Carson, Charles Dunne, Richard Tait, Declan Gallagher, Mark O’Hara and Curtis Main all swapping the claret and amber for black and white.

Match officials

We have today parted company with manager Graham Alexander by mutual consent.

Graham will leave the club along with his assistant Chris Lucketti.

“Graham asked to speak with us early on Friday morning, and everyone agreed that it would be best to make a change,” chairman Jim McMahon said.

“We asked Graham to reverse our fortunes when he arrived eighteen months ago and he did that, before a really solid start to his first full season at Fir Park laid the foundations for what ultimately led to a fifth place finish and European football.

“However, things haven’t gone as well for a spell in 2022 and although the timing is not ideal, we hope a change will bring about fresh impetus for everyone ahead of the 2022/23 season.

“I would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Graham and Chris for all their hard work and effort and wish them every success in their future careers.”

Graham added: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Motherwell and leave with nothing but good wishes for the club in the future.

“I’m proud that we came in with the club joint bottom of the Premiership, and 18 months later leave having first secured our Premiership status, then qualified for Europe in our first full season. Our points tally in that time is only behind Rangers & Celtic.

“I also want to thank everyone who has worked so hard alongside us, and for the support I have received from Alan Burrows, Jim McMahon and the board of directors. It has been a pleasure to represent Motherwell Football Club.”

“We have to be honest with ourselves. We weren’t good enough tonight.”

Striker and fan favourite Kevin van Veen has penned a one-year contract extension keeping the Dutchman at Fir Park until the summer of 2024. 

Van Veen joined Motherwell from Scunthorpe in the summer of 2021 and was our top-goalscorer in his first season at the club, scoring 11 goals.

“I’m glad we have secured Kevin for another two seasons after a great impact in his first year with us,” manager Graham Alexander said.

“He has flourished being in a place where he has trust, respect and a team he enjoys playing with. I believe he has even more in the tank and I know how much he wants to help us continue our success from last year.”

Motherwell travel to Ireland for the second leg of their Europa Conference League second qualifying round match against Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds. 

Kick-off is 7pm.

Tickets

All tickets for Motherwell supporters for the match have sold out.

How to Follow the Game Online

If you are in the UK, the game will be live on Premier Sports one. You can find this on your Sky television on channel 412 and on Virgin Media, channel 551.

If you are outwith the UK, the match will be broadcast live on LOI TV.

Tale of the Tape

Motherwell and Sligo Rovers faced off in the first leg on Thursday night, with the Irish side coming away with a narrow 1-0 victory.

Looking to overcome the deficit, the Steelmen travel to The Showgrounds knowing that with no away goal rule in UEFA competitions, should they win the match by a one goal margin, the match will go to extra-time.

Should the game remain level on aggregate, the tie will be decided by a penalty shootout.

Form Guide

Sligo remain 23 games into their season with no match last weekend.

They are fifth in the table with an unbeaten record in their domestic league at The Showgrounds since John Russell took over in June.

Motherwell kick off their league campaign this weekend against St Mirren.

Motherwell suffered defeat against Sligo Rovers on Thursday night in their first competitive game of the season.

In pre-season, the ‘Well recorded victories against Vorwarts Steyr and Partick Thistle.

When the first team announced that they would be going to Austria for a pre-season camp, young Kian Speirs could only hope that he would to join them.

A last-minute call meant he had to quickly pack his bags and get to the airport as he would join Graham Alexander and the squad for the week long camp.

After only training a handful of times with the first team, this was Kian’s first real experience of top level training and it gave him an insight into what it takes to be a full time professional.

Rounding off his time in Austria, the midfielder would get game time in a bounce game which has left him hungry for more.

Motherwell will take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle at home in the last 16 of the Premier Sports Cup. 

The match is scheduled to take place on August 30/31 and is subject to TV selections.

Ticket information will be announced in due course.