’Well humbled by Welsh minnows

Jul 8 2009 by Andrew Weston, Wishaw Press

IT wasn’t supposed to be like this. An SPL side competing against a Welsh Premier League side? Surely only one winner there? Not so.

But should we be at all surprised? Looking from afar, yes, and this result will go down as one of the most embarrassing defeats in the Steelmen’s 123-year history. After the match, new boss Jim Gannon admitted that an SPL side shouldn’t be losing to such opposition, at home at least.

But managers don’t deal in what appears to be foregone conclusions. They have to deal with the reality, working with the raw materials at their disposal.

And when you look at what Gannon has been left with as an excuse for a first-team squad, it is hard not to sympathise with him.

He claimed in his first press conference last Tuesday that the job was not the biggest challenge he’s had in football and that managing a side (Stockport County) in dire financial straights was far trickier.

“You become a stronger person when you go through something like that,” the 40-year-old said.

Well, he’ll need all that strength to haul his side out of the Welsh Valleys with a win tomorrow evening.

Former boss Mark McGhee claimed a club like Motherwell could not cope with the loss of three or four first-choice players.

And he was right as his side plummeted to the bottom of the SPL in December on the back of injuries and suspensions to skipper Stephen Craigan, Paul Quinn, David Clarkson and Stephen Hughes.

Going into this match, Gannon had just 12 senior players to choose from and was without the backbone of the side that had performed with distinction for the past two years, including Quinn, Hughes, Graeme Smith, Clarkson, Maros Kimpl and Chris Porter, who have all now left the club.

Half the side that finished last Thursday’s match had been plucked from Motherwell’s under-19 squad.

So many factors made this encounter a rather surreal occasion.

The Steelmen playing in European competition is a rarity in the first instance so to have qualified in successive seasons is unprecedented.

Playing a side from Llanelli in the first qualifying round of the Europa League, a town known more as a rugby stronghold than a footballing haven, was also rather peculiar.

And for Motherwell to be ‘hosting’ their visitors in Airdrie in the middle of Wimbledon fortnight under the stewardship of a new boss, Jim Gannon, who describes himself as a London-born Irishman added to the curious nature of the fixture.

Motherwell followers will get to love or hate Gannon over the coming months but if anyone had stuck a tenner on the former Stockport boss taking over from McGhee even two weeks ago they would probably be feeling rather content with life just now.

The majority of shoppers interviewed on the streets of Motherwell last Tuesday – the day their football club’s newest manager was officially unveiled – thought Jim Gannon was a local councillor.

But remember, when Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal FC back in 1996, the headlines read “Arsene Who?” although judging by last night’s performance it’s highly unlikely that Gannon will have the same kind of impact that Wenger has had in North London.

’Well enjoyed almost 80 per cent of possession on Thursday but amazingly had to wait until the 89th minute to register a meaningful shot on target from kid Paul Slane, an effort Welsh goalkeeper Ashley Morris did well to push round the post low to his left. Two minutes later, Ross Forbes shot straight at Morris.

Other than that, Gannon’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation failed to trouble the Welsh side and John Sutton looked like a lost soul up front.

It was too easy for Llanelli, who simply packed nine players behind the ball for 90 minutes which worked a treat. It meant their holding midfielder Andy Mumford, who would not look out of place in a Welsh front-row, rarely needed to draw breath as he sat in his own half disrupting any attacking forays.

Inevitably, Llanelli’s goal came from a setpiece when defender Stuart Jones headed in a corner taken by player-manager Andy Legg (42), who himself entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1992 after achieving a distance of 44.6 metres from a throw in.

Jones lost Craigan at the far post, nodding the ball past Michael Fraser from inside the six-yard box after 28 minutes.

Llanelli had targeted Motherwell’s weakness from set piece plays, evident over the past two seasons, and it paid off handsomely.

“That’s the best result the club’s ever had,” beamed Legg after the match.

Gannon said he had suffered worse results in his career and admitted relief at the chance to atone tomorrow night (Thursday) in the second leg at Parc y Scarlets.

Llanelli are owned by film star Catherine-Zeta Jones’ uncle, Robert Jones. If they can follow up last week’s episode with similar aplomb tomorrow, the DVDs of this drama will surely be rolling off the shelves in Wales before long.

Motherwell: Fraser, Saunders, Craigan, Reynolds, Hammell, O'Brien (McHugh 74), Lasley (Slane 46), Forbes, McGarry, Sutton, Murphy. Subs Not Used: Kosiorowski, Darren Smith, Fitzpatrick, Hutchinson, Page.

Llanelli: Ashley Morris, Legg (Warlow 51), Howard, Stuart Jones, Jarman (Thomas 16), Phillips, Mumford, Corbisiero, Venables, Griffiths, Craig Jones (Follows 65). Subs Not Used: Craig Morris, Jenkins, Moses, John.

Goals: Stuart Jones 28.

Att: 4307

Ref: Tero Nieminen (Finland)