Dundee 4
Motherwell 1
League (Premier League)

Manager's Programme Notes

Much was said and written in the media over the quality of last week's match with Hearts. Most pundits criticised the lack of entertainment, but I personally thought it was a decent game and one which was evenly contested.

Certainly in the opening twenty minutes we caused them a lot of problems and had we scored, as we probably should have done on a couple of occasions, that would have settled us down and perhaps we I could have played in a bit more of a relaxed manner.

Instead, and understandably in view of our poor results at home this season, towards the end of the game nerves played their part and errors crept into our play.

Over the piece, I was neither disappointed with the effort, nor the performance, and I am sure that if we could maintain the standards shown in the early part of the game against Hearts, more

positive results will follow. As it was, we had to be satisfied with a draw, and, of course, there was the added bonus of keeping a clean sheet.

For the second consecutive week we have an opportunity to try and pick up an elusive home win and we know that it will be far from easy against a Motherwell side which on their day can be very exciting.

We will have to be on our toes and aware that they are a very dangerous side on the break as their excellent away record suggests. They have some very good players and since we last played them have added a couple of new ones.

For our part, we must build on last week's performance and ensure that our players give the same commitment.

Although we lost narrowly when Motherwell were last here, we have two wins over them under our belt and if we can play the way we did in those two games Fir Park, it will make for a very interesting contest this afternoon.

Finally I would like to congratulate the three players whom we had on international duty last week.

Robert Douglas was on stand-by as third goalkeeper. for the full side against the French, whilst Jamie Langfield and defender Lee Wilkie were in the Under-21 side.

There is no doubt that seeing top class players whose touch, technique and movement is so good, at close quarters can only benefit players. Lee, I believe, according to the Under-21, manager, had a very good game, which hopefully will act as a boost for him at club level.

Unfortunately, Lee Wilkie was the only one who was actively involved, but, hopefully both of our goalkeepers on duty last week will get their chance in the not too distant future, and be joined by some more of their colleagues on the international scene.