Motherwell's first week of the season had been barely passable. A big away loss, letting the match get away from us after tying things up late. A narrow home win. And then an away draw in the cup. Not really living up to the standards we set last season. Could we do better in the second week?

First up was a trip to newly promoted and perpetually good St. Johnstone. Odds were slightly in the visitors' favor, but as we know 'slight favorites' often means about nothing in SESL. However, Motherwell came out of the gates hot, scoring 12 minutes in through club legend Ray Wylie Hubbard. The visiting supporters were sent into dreamland when Hubbard added a second just 7 minutes later (sandwiching a nice yellow card for the striker).  Could MOT hold on and take 3 vital away points? STJ's big MA Milo pulled one back before the half, but Motherwell would still have to be pretty happy to be leading away against such a strong team. The second half clearly was going to plan for Motherwell - not shots in the match up until MOT moved into a stall at the 60th minute. From there the odds started to look pretty good. Budinauckas made a big save in the 78th minute on the first shot of the half, and supporters started to believe maybe that would be the save that saved the three points. But, alas, the home side got one more chance. The most unlikely hero, a SL19 midfielder, scored the equalizer with 5 minutes to go, and MOT drop points late yet again. 2-2 the final. To add injury to injury, over at New Douglas Park, title rivals DEE had scored in both the 89th and 90th minute to win that one, 2-3. In the last 5 minutes of the games here, MOT had gone from making up 2 points on DEE to dropping 2 points to DEE. Rough!

Could Motherwell turn it around with a home match against Rangers? Motherwell haven't lost at Fir park in a couple seasons, so it seems like a 3 match home stand is just what the doctor ordered. However, it was the visitors that opened up the scoring - Ally McCoist scoring with the first shot for RAN. Motherwell would not be deterred, however. Everyone started to click, and Billy Bland, Guy Clark, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore all quickly scored to make things 3-1 by the 38th minute. The momentum continued after the half - Al Bondigas and Guy Clark both scored before the 60 minute mark. Despite Aasgaard bringing a little peril back to the match with a 68th minute goal, Motherwell would cruise to the victory here. Guy Clark even was able to finish off his hat-trick, scoring a third in the 85th minute.

4 points for the weekend is an improvement, but MOT will continue to wait for their first away win. The league also looked somewhat rough early on last season, but that was without a behemoth of a DEE side being in the lead. One week at a time, but the coming weeks should be somewhat season-defining. Can MOT make a deep run in the cup? Can they keep up decent league form while doing so? Will they bomb out of both? We will see - plenty of challenges ahead.

Motherwell kicked off the season with a visit to Livingston and a home match against Raith Rovers.  Not our ideal opening fixtures for the title defense, but looking across the league there aren't many easy fixtures, so we would have to hope our superior T-11 could carry us through these two matches.

The match against LIV kicked off well for the visiting champs, as Motherwell boosted a small stats advantage due to having the stronger finishers of the two sides. That translated into a very early lead, with Ray Wylie Hubbard scoring just 6 minutes in. However, that lead wouldn't last long at all - LIV equalized two minutes later and kept attacking, scoring two more to make it 3-1 in the 28th minute. Very poor from the MOT GK! Motherwell would pull one back before half through Al Bondigas, and start of the second half in search of the equalizer. That equalizer would finally come in minute 68, as Gary Clark Jr opened his account for the season. But, from there it really unwound. Again, as soon as Motherwell found their crucial goal they let in a sloppy one on the other end. At that point, moving to a press, anything could happen. And, as it turns out, plenty of goals happend. Unfortunately, it was the home side that came out well on top. 7-4 the final in a match that looked, at the 68th minute, like it could go any which way. Motherwell lose their opener big time at the same time as league favorites open up with a big 4-0 win.

Second match was the first a Fir park, a place where Motherwell haven't lost in over a season. The change in stadiums made a big difference for the defending champions - now Motherwell had a big shot advantage to go with. However, the shots kept coming in...and kept going to poor finishers who missed the target. Halftime came and went at 0-0, with Motherwell doing not much with their five shots. In fact, it took until the 68th minute for Motherwell to score a big goal again, this time from Guy Clark. MOT moved into the stall from there and closed out the match, 1-0. First points in the bag, and 100% home record continued.

But, as Motherwell closed out their nervy win, league leaders DEE again won by a huge margin (first junk faced of the year coming, unusually, in the first weekend) to give their captain two bonuses from two matches. Given how strong they look, 3 points seems like a mountain to climb after just two matches done! Will be interesting to see how the season plays out.

Next up comes a return to cup play with a visit to Forfar Athletic. The league will resume after that with a visit to St. Johnstone - oof, tough early schedule!