Motherwell manager Mark McGhee gave some youngsters a run-out in the second game of pre-season, as his side lost 1-0 away to Arbroath on Sunday. Despite a generally quiet afternoon at Gayfield, McGhee looked at the positives of the game. The average age of the Motherwell starting eleven was 18, and McGhee was happy with the game time they had under their belts ahead of the real season starting.
He said: "It’s good (for the youngsters) because they’re playing against boys who play for their livelihood. We had enough players out there with Lionel, Kieran, Joe and Cadden who have first team experience, so generally I’m a little disappointed. This is just the second game of our pre-season though so it was always going to be a weaker team. The only thing I can really take from it is we’ve got game time and you need seven or eight games before you’re really up to top speed."
New signing Dean Brill managed to complete the full 90 minutes, and the manager said he has settled in well at the club, but didn’t have much to do on his debut. McGhee said: "He did fine today, he was a little exposed for the goal but he didn’t really have much to do. Anything he was asked to do he was neat and tidy enough and he kicked well enough."