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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Mark Walker

Motherwell 3 Livingston 1: Theo Bair stars as hosts end winless run

Three things we learned as Motherwell defeated Livingston 3-1 at Fir Park.

Stuart Kettlewell's side end winless run

Motherwell ended their nightmare 15-game run without a win and deservedly so to ease their relegation fears.

Kettlewell's men last received a win bonus at the start of September when they won at Hearts which was their third victory in a row.

But they ended the run in plenty of style yesterday when an impressive first half display blew the bottom side away and elevated them up to eighth in the table.

They were two goals up through Blair Spittal and Theo Bair and although Scott Pittman pulled a goal back for the visitors, a quite delicious finish from Bair ended the contest, with no further goals in the second half.

They managed the second half perfectly without ever looking like they would yield their lead and Kettlewell was delighted at the win.

He said: "It’s not so much a sense of relief, I felt we got what we deserved. "Everyone has spoken about the poor run we’ve been on and you have to show massive character to get out of that.

"I thought our start to the game was indicative of where we were and what the players poured into the game. Everyone had one cause, which was all about breaking the poor run of form."  

Livingston look doomed.

They are now six points from safety having played two more games than nearest side Ross County and they have nothing there that makes you think they have any spark to keep them up.

They've won two games in 20 and the last of them came against Motherwell ironically in October. It's now 12 games without a win.

Scott Pittman's goal yesterday was just their second in 11 games - a stat that screams relegation.

Defensively they are a complete shambles and manager David Martindale will somehow need to make drastic changes next month in the transfer market, which will be easier said than done with their lack of finance.

He was not a happy man after the game. He said: "The first half performance, I never saw it coming. It was well below the standard expected of Livingston players.

"They should probably have been three up before they scored. Our defending was shocking. It was shambolic. And it comes from the individuals on the park. 

"I spoke to the players, we can talk about game plans, tactics, formations, it's all bulls**t if you don't do your one-v-one jobs properly. As a defensive unit, the individual errors we made in the first half were terrible.

"We only have ourselves to blame. I have sat in numerous press conferences and tried to take the pressure off the players and be positive.

"I don't feel that after today's game. Players need to start taking a bit more responsibility. It's too easy in modern-day football - sack the manager, sack the manager.

"What about the players? They now need to start taking responsibility. We are in a relegation battle now and that first-half performance was diabolical.

"I'm kind of shopping in Primark just now. The money I have got to go and recruit opens you up to a certain level of player.

"You're asking new players to come in and hit the ground running because ultimately it's to help the group....it's really difficult to do that."

Theo Bair makes the difference

The main difference between the sides was Theo Bair. Livingston just couldn't deal with him. He's not always been an easy watch.

The big Canadian striker has had his fair share of criticism after a paltry return of one league goal in 34 appearances for St Johnstone although the vast majority of them were off the bench.

However, he has fitted in far more in Lanarkshire and was integral to their much-needed win yesterday. 

He unselfishly set up the opener then scored two himself - the second of which was a quite outstanding dink past Shamal George after a dragback took Mickey Devlin out of the game.

He was deservedly Man of the Match and Kelletwell was delighted at his display. He said: "I feel he is the guy who gets criticised more than anyone else.

"He seems to be the one that gets criticism beyond a lot of the other attackers and forward players in the league.

"Theo can’t feel sorry for himself. I don’t feel sorry for him. What he can do it change people’s opinions of him and make them eat their words with that sort of performance.

"I thought he was outstanding and unplayable at times. His goals are the end product we keep talking about. He has all the tools, I think the big thing is confidence and belief."

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