Motherwell manager Ian Baraclough was please to see his struggling side beat Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton 4-0 at Fir Park. The win was Motherwell’s first over Accies this season after three successive defeats to their near neighbours in league and cup matches. Baraclough savoured the result, while praising goalscorers Lionel Ainsworth and John Sutton as well as the contribution of Marvin Johnson.
Baraclough said: "I'm really pleased for the amount of work that the fellas have gone and put in. To be honest I felt as though it was coming, it wasn't just bravado last week saying that we'd be okay, we would be fine and the results would start to come. Tonight was everything that you wanted it to be. The first 15 minutes was a bit slack, I thought they got a foothold in the game, but after 20 minutes I thought we got a hold of the ball, we asked questions of their back four, we played in the right areas and we got the reward for the way we started the second half as well. I think it will give everybody a massive boost, because we felt that's all that was needed, the end product, the final touch. People like Lionel Ainsworth and John Sutton I'm particularly pleased for, because they've had to endure sitting on the bench and coming off the bench and feeling as though they're a little bit out of it. But I've said it all along that it's a squad game. When your time is right, go and make an impact, and those two have gone and made an impact tonight. It was a game that we felt he could go and make a massive impact in wide areas. Marvin on one side, Lionel on the other, go and get at their full-backs and exploit the space in behind as well, but also when Marvin is crossing the ball, Lionel get into the back post. We say to our wide men that there's 10 or 15 goals a season just to get a tap-in at the back stick, and he's put himself in a position and gone and put it away as well. I think that's a sweet one for the supporters, they've had to put up with a fair bit this season so far, three defeats against your near neighbours is hard to swallow, but tonight they can enjoy themselves and over the weekend they can have a look at the newspapers, and look towards the final eight games with a bit of renewed positivity in the hope that we can replicate that."
Hamilton player-manager Martin Canning felt his team dropped their heads after Ainsworth struck a stunning opening goal on 49 minutes and added a second within 60 seconds. He said: "I'm obviously very disappointed. The most disappointing thing for me, you can make mistakes and it's a great strike from the boy, but the biggest thing for me is having characters that will stand up. Anybody can lose a goal, but when you lose a goal you need to get yourself back in the game, so to lose the second one so quickly is a real kick when you're down, and it makes it really difficult to get back into the game. Obviously it's been a difficult run and when you're on a bad run and you lose a goal then heads can go down. I've spoken to the boys about it, that's when you need characters, you need your big players to step up to the mark, but we're a young squad and that's something we'll need to learn."
