Motherwell and Forfar faced off in the SESL Cup semifinals, with Forfar looking to pull a big upset to keep their magical cup run alive. Motherwell seem to now be shfiting their full focus on to the cup, as they lined up 10 of their T-11 up for this one. Motherwell were favorites here, but a cup semi can always throw up a surprise or two.

Forfar came out of the gates hot in this one. Clearly the gameplan was to put Motherwell on the back foot early and catch them by surprise. And, what do you know, it worked: Nathan Cannon found Stuart Morrison at the top of the box and Forfar took a surprise lead, just 3 minutes in! Motherwell were rattled: they would give up 3 more shots on target in the first 17 minutes. Had it not been for the efforts of Kevin Budinauckas, Motherwell might have found themselves in a hole too big to climb out of and this semi might have been over before all of the fans had found their seats.

But, it seems that seeing the heroics of their big man between the sticks fired up the Well. Striker Guy Clark was seen rallying the troops after Budinauckas' third save, and sure enough he would get his chance to do something about it not 60 seconds later. Receiving the ball on the right side, Clark made the most of Motherwell's first shot and leveled the scores 18 minutes in. Right from the kickoff he had another chance - this time saved! But, Forfar would not be so lucky from the ensuing corner. This time Guy Clark became provider, setting up Billy Bland with a nice chipped cross, and all of a sudden Motherwell were up, 2-1. Oh how things could have been different had Forfar finished their chances! They went from being up and completely dominant to behind in the space of two minutes! Football is cruel sometimes. Forfar looked like the wind had been taken out of their sails, as Motherwell kept getting chances as the half carried on. Some big saves from Neil Stafford kept them in it, but just before the half former SRA man Al Bondigas got the important 4th goal of the match, putting Motherwell up by two at the half.

One way traffic was the story of most of the second half, as well, with Neil Stafford being the only reason Forfar kept in this one for as long as they did. A goal by Luis Suarez was mixed in between goals by Maswanhise, Al Bondigas, and BB King, meaning this one would end 6-2 and Motherwell would advance to the cup final.

Man of the match was given to Billy Bland, but it is our opinion that it should have gone to someone else. Cheers to Neil Stafford for making 3 saves on Billy Bland - not many GKs can say they've done that this year with the season he's having.

Motherwell will likely care about the cup final more than any other match remaining on the schedule. Potentially just two wins away from a treble...wow. With our struggles to finish off winning trophies in seasons past, I never would have imagined we'd be this close to this kind of glory.

Finally, one side note about tactics: Don't forget that Opportunistic is a bad tactic to play against Early Cross or Longball. I always remember not to counterattack against those tactical combinations, but often forget that opportunistic is also a bad choice there. Since defenders add some of their SL to OFF with that combination, switching from 'N' to 'O' when we went up 3 goals resulted in FOR getting a boost to their shot % while MOT lost some of theirs. Bad move! Didn't cost us here, but it could in a match where we decide to move to 'O' at a closer score.

Motherwell made it through our tough run of fixtures not just well, but basically perfect. Current run is 29 matches unbeaten with 14 wins in a row. 9 of those 14 have been by 3+, meaning that our second captain is now up to 8 free PU. The big win over STE has practically wrapped up the league, meaning that Motherwell should be crowned as champions for the second time either this weekend or next. One win in the remaining 4 fixtures will seal the deal.

What that means is that focus has fully turned to the SESL Cup. Tomorrow brings our semifinal matchup with Forfar Athletic. Motherwell will have John Lee Hooker suspended for this match due to his 5 yellow cards accummulated, but Forfar will also be missing a key defensive midfielder in Kieran Inglis. Motherwell should have the roster advantage, but tactics, aggression, and luck can always turn the tide in a 1-off cup match. Let's hope that the FOR GK doesn't have a stellar day and that we can have some good shot creation.

It already is certainly Motherwell's best season ever, but the SESL Cup can turn this into something truly legendary for the club.

A good weekend for us and the lads in the team who want to go up (and the Club Treasurer of course). At home to Queens Park qwe faced a Stall team for 75 minutes - and this time we didn't give up a silly penalty. 3-0 came relatively easy and the game closed out after the hour mark. Quinn, Milne and Boyle all scored. 5th placed Airdrieonians had gone to a surprise 1-0 home loss to Peterhead. We were able to get a late cameo for 2nd string keeper, Bursik, to save 1 EL for Slater.

This put us 3 points clear of them heading up to our 2nd match, at Peterhead. They produced a decent team against us and a point would have been acceptable but near half time we grabbed on a defender error and a good bit of play to get 2 goals from Bowie and Boyle.Riella pulled one back but Watson iced it for us with 6 minutes to go. We put Bursik on then but he didn't give Slater any EL respite.

We now go to Airdrieonians next Saturday with a poor keeper, but a 6 point advantage over them in the table.

A loss will still put Slater up to 5ELs and that should be enough for 2 games which will give us an automatic promotion spot, whether we want it or not. I feel a retirement comeing on soon!!

We started the weekend with an away game at Tyron's East Stirlingshire,always a tricky side to play against especially at their home,they opted for a 4-2-4 longball as we went for a 6-3-1  opportunistic as we had lots of low s/l that needed resting, game on and nothing to choose between the sides in the 1st half as both defences on top, 2nd half subs on and much of the same but we were struggling to retain any possession for any length of time and on 72 minutes they broke through and Buttler fired home 1-0,we had no answers as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 5 to 2,well played Tyron.

Next we were at home to Bill's table topping Celtic, a really formidable side filled with quality players, we opted for a 5-3-2 opportunistic as they went for a 5-2-3 longball, game on and both sides enjoying lots of possession but with no result,but on 36 minutes a quick cross saw Chilvers power home his header 1-0,half time soon came and subs on ,we started quickly in the 2nd half and on 46 minutes Fraser fired home 2-0 and he fired home his 2nd on 64 minutes 3-0,we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 9 to 3 ,not something we expected, well played Bill.

So a 3 point weekend sees us sit 3rd with 4 games to go.

Falkirk went into their SESL quarter final against Annan Athletic as favourites but we just couldn't beat their man of the match keeper Nortey. Then it went to penalties and we ended up losing four two. An awful way to go out but congrats to Daniel and good luck in the semifinals. So yesterday it was back to league action. A solid start, a two nil home victory over Nairn County with goals from Walker and McTominay. We then traveled to play second placed Raith Rovers. We got overrun and ended up losing six one but it could have been any score. Jordan scored our consolation goal. So with four games remaining we sit seventh just outside the playoffs but we do have three of those games at home. 

The season is coming to a close. 

Early perhaps at Stenny. 

You might imagine there could be an air of disappointment around the club this week. We lost to MOT this week (and we havent lost many!) and it means (all but statistically) we wont be winning the league - let us be the first to extend our congratulations to Andrew and the team - a somewhat expected, but well-deserved title this season. 10 points ahead with 4 games to go, they've jst been too strong and too consistent throughout. 

But there is no disappointment - we didnt set out expecting success this season, we didnt expect 2nd - so this finish will be very pleasing. and there is still a high around the club from last years first ever Divsion 1 title win. 

So now attention turns to finishing as strongly as possible. Over the last few seasons oud division 1 W-D-L record has been improving significanlty. But finaincailly there's another priority, we need vash for next season and currently our sponsors arent happy. While we have conceded the fewest goasl in SESL this season, we have also scored only modeslty and thats not what the sponsors asked for. We have 4 games to try and get us across the line for what would be a very healthy sponsor payout, so we might need a change of focus in these games. Lets see hwat this team can deliver when needed! 

EDI led LIV 1-0 going into the final 10 minutes of the game but came ended up with nothing after losing 1-2 at home. That was followed by EDI leading SM 1-0 after 80 minutes and only getting a single point there. A rather disappointing haul of a single point after leading well in both games was made worse but a RED card and also another suspended player due to a yellow means EDI will lose two players for the next session. All in all a terrible weekend that somewhat beggers belief TBH.

Hopefully next weekend will see the 'Pick on EDI' dial turned back down to normal but the fear is that the damage is already done and is quite likely to stay done. We shall see ?

EDI pulled off a huge trade for the club on the final day of the transfer window today.

Tunisian WG Sebastian Tounekti joins the club from CEL and will give the front line a massive boost, not only for the remaining six games of this season but also for several seasons to come. Rookie WG Charlie Cooke moves to CEL as part of the same trade package and we wish him well in his new venture in Glasgow.

The full deal is reputed to be the biggest in the clubs history and all parties are satisfied the the trade will help both teams.

Tounekti looks certain to make his debut for EDI in the upcoming games this weekend and all at EDI look forward to seeing what he can do in the coming few weeks.

Motherwell faced Elgin City in the quarterfinals of the SESL Cup, as MOT aim to continue their incredible hot streak. A win here would not only put them into the last four, but also would have them in a great spot for swings at trophies #2 and #3 of the season. Given Motherwell's lead in the league, ELs can now be applied more heavily to cup matches and we can aim for T-11 lineups for those knockouts.

 Motherwell started with their standard 4-2-4 N formation, while ELG came out with a 4-2-4 E with 10 players playing 'a'. That aggression put them up there with about the same shot % as Motherwell, which I think was a really wise move from Jason to help make up for the SL gap, even if it exposed them to some risk in cards and penalties. It was enough to get ELG the first shot of the match...but then luck swung very, very much against them. Memphis Slim scored an opener 2 minutes into this one, and straight from the restart Billy Bland got in on the action. Motherwell were up 2-0 just 180 seconds in!. This gave ELG a huge mountain to climb, and that mountain turned into Everest very quickly: Tawanda Maswanhise made the score 3-0, and star Winger Olly McDonald got himself sent off a few minutes later. At that point it would seem there was no way back for ELG. They were able to pull one back right before the break, but it would take a lot for them to find two more with 10 men on the field. By the 74th minute, goalscorer Kane Hester was sent off, as well, and there was truly no chance from there. Motherwell would get one more for the gamblers who bet on a Guy Clark goal, and this one would finish 4-1. Olly Kelly made 6 fine saves to give his side a chance, including 3 big saves on MOT's start strikers, but he couldn't hold back the tide. Motherwell got some early luck with the goals, but the red cards really made the biggest difference on the day.

ELG will have a hard weekend ahead with suspensions and injuries, while MOT will return home to face STE as the title race will either be restarted or all but finished with this one. Should the Well end up with 3 points from that match they can just about focus 100% on the cup.

Next cup match will be MOT v FOR in the semis, with both semifinals lining up as Div 1 v Div 3. Should be a good one!

Not a great week for the team or for keeper Bursik - who will be a casualty come the next "cash for Apprentice" feature.

We were obliged to play him for 30 minutes whilst regular custodian Slater finished his lunch (aka gained some ELs) and in these 30 minutes we lost both games last Saturday. Home to Dundee United we went down 3-0 with Busik missing 2 shots he faced and away in Inverness we lost by 3-1. Again goals lost in the first 30 minutes were crucial.

So we dropped down to 4th after the first game and remain 4th after the 2nd match. But Airdrieonians are level points and are pushing for the top 4 slots.  If we stay 4th well and good but not having a 2nd keeper is costing us. Just as well as my job isn't on the line to get promotion... :-)

It's been a few weeks since the last press release from STE due to some holidays amongst the team. 

Unfortunately in that time our fortune has been mixed. It's hard to say we havent played well becasue we have - still competing in every game. But we've been knocked out of the cup in a narrow defeat to this season's trophy hunters MOT. Disappointing, but a respectable way to bow out of the SESL cup. In the league MOT also look to have in wrapped up as we have dropped of the pace, without losing a game! Since the group phase of the SESL cup, we havent lost a game in the league but we have drawn four and that lack of killer instict has cost us. The title challenge likely wont go into the final 2 weeks. 

To make it worse our next league game is MOT - a chance for revenge for our cup defeat, but quite possible another defeat which will all but secure the title for the MOT men. 

However if can hang on to 2nd place it will further build on what is already the most succesful era in STE history. 

We've got some work to do if we want a sponsor payout though. We need to score some goals!! Might see some interesting last few games

Motherwell have never won two trophies in a season before, and it certainly looks like that is about to change. After their CECIL cup win, Motherwell have not lost a match. In fact, they are 26 matches unbeaten, with 23 wins and 3 draws in that span. Finances are in great shape, morale is at an all time high, and with six league matches it looks like they should be able to hold onto their current 7 point lead at the top.

The big match of the week was the SESL cup round of 16 match against Stenhousemuir. Both sides were aiming for success in both the league and the cup,  so this one would be juicy. From the start, both sides looked fairly evenly matched. But it was Motherwell who would surge to the early lead, with two quickfire goals building a 2-0 halftime lead. Stenny were able to pull one back late in the second half, but it was Motherwell who had the luck today. 2-1 and advancing to a QF matchup with Elgin.

In the league, Motherwell found the matchups a bit easier, facing stalls that allowed them to be on the front foot for most of the weekend. 3-0 home to FRA and 4-1 away to PT extends our lead at the top and earns a couple captain's bonuses. Great week for the Well, and it sure seems like it's going to be a magical season come the end of it.

Falkirk played their last 16 SESL cup game against Stirling with two main players missing but that didn't stop us from progressing. We left it late with two goals in the last 10 minutes through Jordan and Durie for a deserved two nil win. We now play Annan Athletic in the quarterfinals. Our league form suffered due to players being rested. We lost two nil at home against Deverondale after conceding both early on. We did though pick up three important points from our away match at Hamilton Accies thanks to a Ferguson goal on 28 minutes. We remain sixth in the last playoff spot going into the final six matches. 

We started the weekend with an away game at Ross's Aberdeen, a real tough quality side especially at home ,they opted for a 5-3-2 normal  as we went for a 5-3-2 opportunistic, game on and the defence ruled the 1st half as both stood firm, 2nd half and subs on both sides going to find that opening but it did not appear as defences ruled the roost ,we just edged the shot count 5 to 3,well played Ross

Next we were at home to Arnold's queen of the south, a really tough side to play against, we opted for a 5-3-2 normal as they went for a 5-2-3 normal, game on and we were enjoying lots of possession in the 1st half but could not find a way through a stubborn defence, half time soon came and subs on we kept pushing on and got the breakthrough on 80 minutes when Carbon headed home 1-0 and we held out as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 7 to 1,well played Arnold. 

So a 4 point weekend sees us sit 3rd.

EDI managed to take four points in the latest league session with a 2-1 home win over ARB and then followed that up with a good 2-2 draw away at EF. Those points now give EDI a total of 34 points which sees us sit in 9th place and two places (but only three points) above the relegation battle but with EDI still having a PLUS goal difference which may be worth another point at the end of the season and therefore rather valuable at this stage.

SIX games remaining but those games include several against teams that are also battling away to avoid the drop so things can change very quickly in this seasons Division 1 relegation fight. EDI will certainly need to keep up their recent improvement in form to stay clear of the drop zone.

A quiet week in Edinburgh with the manager keeping a tight hold on the clubs purse strings despite the squad being somewhat light in terms of numbers but this is nothing new in regard of this manager who has always highlighted that the club does need to control their finances if they wish to prosper in the upcoming seasons.

DF Oswi Davies is suspended for the teams next game but otherwise the squad continues to thrive in terms of suspensions and ELs thanks to a fairly rigid rotation policy but with the end of the current league campaign already on the horizon that may be slightly more relaxed in future games and some of the higher SL players lokk likely to see more game time as EDI look to secure their Division 1 status and then plan for next season in what will hopefully be a second season in Division 1.

The manager has recently stated that plans are already being drawn up for the upcoming off-season but are still fluid but the manager insists that his targets remain the same and he is hopeful that they will stand up to scutiny in the weeks/months ahead.