shannon2007

Superb results against Real. I took the libery of editing the home & home to home and away, hope you dont mind

retired_destiny1124

Thanks PM7- not a problem

***

We were ready for the match at Torino against Juventus. I am certain they didn't expect us to come out and play like we did in the first half. I *know* their fans didn't, since there was a smattering of boos for the home club at halftime. We played the half of our lives in the first half. Here is the stat that tells the tale- we outshot them 14-3 at halftime. The 56,000 fans were stunned by our effort. They had plenty to cheer about though as Gianluigi Buffon proved why he is the best keeper in Europe as he held us to a lone goal from Stephen Pearson at the 7 minute mark. Pearson played the best match of his life and both he and Steven Milne were feeling a bit frustrated at halftime- they both had seen Buffon make last second stops of balls that appeared headed for wide openings. Juventus certainly rallied at
halftime as they stormed out and immediately came close to evening the match- only to see Brownie deny Juan Roman Riquelme and Marcelo Salas in the opening moments. When Christian Dailly headed a Kevin Twaddle corner past Buffon at 53 minutes for his 1st Motherwell goal, you could sense the anguish on the Italian sideline. It didn't last for long though as Alen
Boksic broke past Pearson and rifled a shot past Brownie off the underside of the cross bar at 60 minutes and the crowd was right back to life. I switched to a more defensive set and we held on for dear life as wave after wave of Juventus attacks washed over our midfield and backline. In the end, it was Alessandro Del Piero who had the golden chance handed to him as he was unattended. His shot sailed just wide of the post and then time finally ran out- we had beaten them 2-1. Not only that but Bayern fought Real Madrid to a 2-2 draw- we had clinched a spot in the Champions Cup Quarterfinals.

In worse news for Scottish clubs, Aberdeen and Celtic were both broomed out of the UEFA Cup in their 4th round match-ups. Aberdeen fell to AEK by a 3-0 aggregate and Celtic went down to Schalke 04 by a 4-1 margin.

Though our last group match against Bayern at Fir Park didn't mean anything as far as qualifying for the Quarterfinals, I wanted to win the match badly- I really did want to win the group. We played a steady match, challenging them when we could, playing sound defense when we had to. It was scoreless at halftime, but we had played better overall than them in the first half. The second half started the same way, but at 50 minutes Elber fired a sizzling shot that caught Brownie on the wrong foot and it sailed past him to give them the 1-0 lead. We rallied, but Oliver Kahn was a wall today and we couldn't find the niche to get a goal. It was a disappointing loss, but the fans were appreciative of the effort we put forth. As we trudged back to the dressing room, a roar went up in the crowd. The players and I looked around and one of the fans near us shouted out "Juventus 2, Real Madrid 0"- Juventus had upset Real Madrid at Madrid and we had won the group! Real Madrid still ended up 2nd over Bayern due to goals scored. It was a great feeling, even though we had backed into it- to win a group of this caliber was something to celebrate.

For how tough our Group draw was- I believe fate rewarded us for making it through as we drew Lille in the Quarterfinals. They had finished 2nd to Milan in the weakest group- but actually had more points than us in Group play- something I would emphasize in preparing for them. The other matchups were Roma versus Champs Cup holders Lazio, Manchester United versus UEFA Cup holder Dortmund, Milan versus Real Madrid.

The League Cup Final at Hampden Park was next. Hearts had been a tough club for us all season and there wasn't any reason to expect it to be easier today. We struck early this time as Steven Milne found room in front of Antti Niemi and Neil Scally made a wonderful pass to him. Milne volleyed and it sailed past Niemi for a goal in the 10th minute. From that point on, it was a wonderful display of football- the Scottish brand. Every ball was
challenged and the few shots that each side generated were very hard earned. Hearts had their best chance to even the match midway through the second half when Robert Tomaschek broke in on Brownie, but Brownie smothered the shot off his foot to keep the clean sheet. We had one more great chance, but Niemi parried Mark Kerr's shot late in the 2nd half. Neil Scally earned MOM honors and continues to justify his replacing Billy McKinlay in the lineup with his strength and physical presence on defense. When the final whistle blew, we still held the 1-0 edge and now were holders of the League Cup.

retired_destiny1124

We travelled to St.Johnstone next and with our regular midfield not fully fit- it was the 2nd liners to the rescue again. Ross O'Donoghue (slotted with the 2nd liners because he was ineligible for European Competition), Keith Lasley, Stephen Whalen and Neil Scally worked together and throttled the St.Johnstone midfield in the match. Lasley notched a goal at the 10 minute mark as Scally sprung him with a nice pass. It appeared we would go to half up 2-0, but Martin Wood's goal at 41 minutes was ruled off on his offside call. Though we controlled the match, we couldn't get the clinching goal and St.Johnstone finally came close at 78 minutes when Brownie smothered a diving header by David Hagan. We put the match away as Wood scored off an O'Donoghue pass and then finally O'Donoghue added the late capper as we finished out a strong 3-0 road win.

Oh, yes- you're right. It was just before the transfer deadline that we got him. I have to tell you I was a bit surprised that we managed to land him from Rangers. Why surprised? Well, Kenny Miller was to my mind one of the top young Scottish forwards. In retrospect, I guess it wasn't too surprising that Rangers were willing to let him go at that point- since they were on their European spending spree- adding non-Scottish players right and left. Still, I couldn't even bid their established price of 2.1 Million on him- the Board concluding that I hadn't scouted him enough to bid more than 1.6
Million. They accepted the bid, but it did take a little negotiation with Kenny to convince him to come over to us- since he was worried about
perceptions. Doubling his salary was enough to do the trick though- money talks. I really felt good about adding him- with him our forwards were now Miller, Kiegan Parker, Steven Milne, Martin Wood, Jermaine McSporran and Kevin Twaddle- I couldn't have asked for a better set of young Scots and that would have been pretty close to my wish list at the time- it was exciting to add him.

We faced struggling St.Mirren at home before Lille came for their 1st leg of the Champs Cup Quarterfinal. I was worried about a loss of focus, but I need not have- since the 2nd liners were starting again and they were eager for a chance to put another win on the table for us. Kiegan Parker scored to give us an early lead, but Christopher Wreh blew past our backline and took it around John Connolly to even the match. Just before halftime Ross O'Donoghue continued to show why he was such a valuable addition- blistering the go ahead goal. It was touch and go in the 2nd half with both clubs threatening, but Billy McKinlay put the match out of reach for us when he drilled home a 25 yard free kick past Tony Williams to finish off a 3-1 win.

Lille may have done well in their Group, but they obviously weren't expecting the kind of effort we brought against them in the first leg at Fir Park. The regulars, with a week of rest, were really ready and we were all over them from the opening whistle. Stephen Pearson stunned them by taking the ball off the whistle and driving all the way through their defense
before firing it past Gregory Wimbee in the 1st minute- to the delight of the packed house at Fir Park. Steven Nicholas scored at 12 minutes on a rising shot and then Mark Kerr struck at 24 minutes on a volley. When Kerr boomed home a free kick at 34 minutes, you could sense the heart leaving our visitors- they knew it was nigh impossible. We didn't let up in the 2nd half, though we had problems as we had two goals in a row waved off on offsides. Stephen Whalen, who subbed on for a tiring Stephen Pearson, added the final exclamation point in our 5-0 win- which left us feeling great
about the 2nd leg. In other action, Manchester United defeated Dortmund 2-0 at Old Trafford. Milan upset Real Madrid in Madrid by a 2-1 score and Roma and Lazio battled to a scoreless draw in Rome.

Next up was Rangers at Fir Park. We both had been playing well- it was a great test of our confidence and ability at this point of the season. It didn't look good early as we lost Stephen Pearson for a month to a knee
injury and Tom van der Leegte chipped a rebound past Brownie to put us behind midway through the first half. We responded well as Christian
Dailly's header quickly equalized. We took the lead to halftime when Neil Scally's header eluded Stefan Klos at 40 minutes. Rangers were out for blood to start the second half, but Brownie stopped them cold. When Kiegan Parker, on for injured Steven Milne, drove a low shot past Klos- our fans could sense that we had them. The rest of the match we concentrated on shutting them down and we handed them only their 3rd loss in 33 matches this season.

retired_destiny1124

With our match at Dens Park coming between the Rangers showdown and the 2nd
leg of Champions Cup Quarterfinal, it was another chance to rest most of the
regulars. The Dundee fans got an exciting display of wide open offensive
football as neither club played much defense in the match and neither keeper
was sharp. We jumped into the lead when Stephen Whalen knifed through their
backline to score his 10th goal of the season. Beto promptly answered for
them, but Kenny Miller- making his debut- stepped up and scored a pair of
quick goals as they had no luck in trying to mark him. Martin Wood raised
our lead to 4-1 with his 10th goal of the season before they answered back
with a late goal from Fabian Caballero to bring them back to 4-2 at half.
When Stuart Lovell scored early in the second half past John Connolly-
Dundee seemed to be right back in the match. With the pressure on, the boys
responded once more and Keith Lasley scorched a shot past David Klein. Wood
then chipped past Klein for his 2nd of the match before Jermain McSporran
took one around Klein to cap off our wild 7-4 road win. The win was a record
high scoring match for the both the SPL and Motherwell and was a good way to
head into the Playoff Group as we were assured of at least a 3rd place
finish with an outside shot at 2nd.

Our shot at 2nd disappeared in the midst of a poor performance at Tannadice
Park. Dundee United handled us nicely, as they never let us get untracked
offensively. David Hannah was a dominant player in the first half and the
goal he scored in injury time was well earned. We played a bit better in the
2nd half, but when Eddie Annand headed past Brownie, it was pretty evident
we were going to have a tough time salvaging any points from the match as
Paul Gallacher was superb in net for them. They finished out the 2-0 win and
it was worse seeing both Celtic and 'Gers winning.

Our 2nd leg of the Champions Cup Quarterfinal was expected to be
anti-climactic, since we already held a 5-0 aggregate. Still, I emphasized
that we needed to nail it down with at least one away goal. Their fans were
raucous early in the match, and with good reason as Christian Karembeu and
Jay Jak Okacha struck for goals two minutes apart in the early going. We
didn't panic and just started working harder offensively and defensively as
Stephen Whalen scored at 32 minutes to ensure our advancement. Not content
to let them have the win, we kept working hard in the second half and it
paid off when Martin Wood (on for a tiring Kevin Twaddle) pounced on a
rebound and sent it over Gregory Wimbee at 84 minutes to earn us a 2-2 draw.
Manchester United won out over Dortmund on away goals, as did Roma over
Lazio. Milan beat Real Madrid on 3-2 aggregate. The Semifinal draw brought
us a return matchup with Manchester United and an all-Italian Roma-Milan
matchup on the other side.

There was nothing on the line but our pride as we hosted Celtic at Fir Park.
They needed a win to try and keep pace with Rangers, but the match mattered
little to us- and the boys were very relaxed coming in. Looking back, I
really think the fact that we were becoming a seasoned club through all the
Champions Cup competition helped us a lot as we hadn't any real fear of
them- but we did respect their talent. We certainly looked relaxed as Steven
Milne scored a pair of quick goals and then Kevin Twaddle added another as
we went up 3-0 by the 21 minute mark. Robert Douglas had been
uncharacteristically unsteady in the early going, but he settled down and
that was all we could score. It was plenty enough given that our midfield
and backline was standing tall and frustrating Emile Heskey and Chris
Sutton. Brownie kept the sheet clean as we knocked them off 3-0 and in doing
so ensured that Rangers clinched the Championship of the SPL.

Mark Kerr finally earned his first Cap in Scotland's 3-3 draw against
Slovenia.

Aberdeen hosted us at Pittodrie with much more on the line as they battled
Dundee United for the coveted 4th place position. They got off to a quick
start when Quino blasted a shot past John Connolly early in the first half.
We evened it midway through when Martin Wood showed superb touch on a shot
he lofted over Francisco Javier Sanchez Broto. Aberdeen went back in front
for halftime when Robbie Winters hammered home a cross from Ben Thornley. In
the opening moments of the 2nd half Kenny Miller scored the equalizer and
despite a second half featuring sparkling action that was the final score.
The draw dropped Aberdeen three points behind Dundee United.

As we faced Manchester United at Fir Park this time- the bloom was off the
rose for our players. We no longer had any awe over the very names that were
out there opposite us, they were just another difficult opponent that we
needed to play our best match to have a chance against. We stunned our
storied visitors in the 8th minute when Stephen Whalen (Stephen Pearson was
still out with injury) beat Paul Scholes on the dribble and slid the ball to
Kevin Twaddle. Twaddle used his feet well and wheeled- firing a low screamer
that Fabien Barthez just plain missed. Just like that we had a quick lead
and the standing room only crowd was in joyful celebration. ManU almost
countered just as quickly when Roy Keane crossed to a zooming Ryan Giggs,
but Brownie was alert to it and pushed the header over the crossbar. Twaddle
almost had his 2nd goal at 13 minutes, but his header skimmed the bar. The
whole place was bedlam in the 24th minute when Mark Kerr boomed a free kick
that deflected off the wall, but before anyone could react- Steven Nicholas
blasted the ball into the net for his 10th goal of the season and we were
ahead 2-0. ManU didn't panic, they just applied more pressure as Beckham was
zinging crosses to van Nistlerooy and Yorke, but Brownie stopped those and
Paul Scholes missed wide on a golden chance. It looked like they were
finally going to get one back in first half extra time when van Nistlerooy
sent a ball toward Yorke on the wide open side of the net, but Steven
Hammell put on a burst of speed and knocked the pass akilter- foiling the
play. At 64 minutes, ManU finally did strike when Beckham beat Kerr on the
dribble and crossed to van Nistlerooy. Christian Dailly had let him get a
step, and that was all van Nistlerooy needed as he deflected the Beckham
cross past a lunging Brownie to make the match 2-1. I decided that we needed
to play a bit more conservatively at that point, but bless my players for
still taking the chance to attack. We got a huge break at 73 minutes when
Wes Brown knocked over Kevin Twaddle from behind in the area. Twaddle
converted the penalty kick past Barthez and it was 3-1. ManU sent everyone
after us to try and gain another away goal, but Brownie stymied van
Nistlerooy twice and parried a booming Beckham free kick. When Yorke sent
his shot over the bar the final whistle finally sounded and we had put
ourselves in a good position with the 3-1 win. Roma had upset Milan 1-0 at
Milan in the other half of the Semifinal. Both our fans and the Board were
ecstatic over the win.

In the weekend before our trip to Old Trafford, we faced 6th place Hibs at
Fir Park. They had wound up in the Playoff Group only by accident of chance
and had played like it so far. I featured several debuts from our reserve
squad in the match- Philip Creaney and Martin Canning along with the first
senior play of the season for Mark Gallagher. Everyone played well against
dispirited Hibs. We struck early when Ross O'Donoghue scored in the opening
moments and then Kenny Miller potted two more goals (making it 5 in the 3
matches he has played for us) to give us a 3-0 halftime margin. Philip
Creaney scored in his debut as we ran out the string on the 4-0 win. Dundee
sacked Ivano Bonetti after their scoreless draw with Celtic- I remember
hoping that they would name a proper Scot as Manager.

Old Trafford again- and this time with a hint of desperation on the part of
the ManU fans. I knew going in that the first goal was crucial, if they
scored it- it would be a whole new match. ManU didn't have an answer for
Stephen Whalen though. I decided to keep him in the starting lineup, despite
Stephen Pearson being healthy, and it paid off handsomely when he drove
through the ManU midfield and smashed a shot into the low left corner of the
net past Fabien Barthez at 8 minutes. You could sense the agony in the
stands- as we had now equaled their away goal and they now needed 3 to force
extra time. We were handed a nice twist at 12 minutes, when in a fit of
frustration, Phil Neville savagely hacked down Kevin Twaddle from behind.
The referee did his duty with an immediate red card and I remember thinking
back to our debacle against Celtic earlier in the season- when we collapsed
in a similar situation. It was worrisome when Ruud van Nistlerooy headed a
Ronny Johnsen cross past Brownie at 24 minutes- but then he was ruled
offside to the complete disgust of the fans (I remember after the match
referee Dick Jol had to be escorted by police because of the Neville call
and the goal ruled off). I told the boys to continue to play their normal
match- not to go to a defensive shell- and to take counters when we could.
Fabien Barthez kept us from going further ahead with several spectacular
saves. On the ManU side- their offense seemed to be limited to long shots
from Beckham and an occasional run from Scholes- we weren't giving them much
free room. The stands at Old Trafford started emptying when Kiegan Parker
hammered home his own rebound for his 10th goal after Barthez stopped him at
75 minutes. We allowed them a late consolation goal when Paul Scholes scored
his 10th of the season at 89 minutes. The 5-2 aggregate and the 2-1 win at
Old Trafford surprised many pundits that had written on ManU coming back and
brooming us. Roma defeated Milan 2-1, so we had the pleasure of travelling
to Rome (Imagine That!) to face them in the Finals of Champs Cup.

Our final regular season match, hosting Rangers at Fir Park, had none of the
trappings or suspense like last season- when we matched up for the title.
This time around, I was playing all 2nd line players, to keep any last
injuries from interfering in the Champs Cup Final. We played hard in the
match, but Rangers were playing their first line players, so held most of
the play. We came close a couple times on Stefan Klos, but in the end it was
Shota Arveladze who scored the lone goal of the match at 72 minutes. We
finished 3rd and are no longer SPL holders, as we had known for weeks, but
weren't a lot worse than our record when we won the SPL last season.

In the UEFA Cup Finals, Schalke 04 defeated Leeds on penalties after they
fought to a 1-1 draw.

We certainly didn't need any distractions at this time, but when Jermaine
McSporran missed training (again), I put him on the transfer list. If you
don't respect your teammates enough to come to training at this point of the
season- what are you telling them. He bitched about the decision, but nobody
on the club gave him a sympathetic ear.
************************************************** **************************
********************
Scottish Premier Division - Saturday 10th May 2003
************************************************** **************************
********************


================================================== ==========================
====================
2002/3 Table
================================================== ==========================
====================

Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won
Drn Lst For Ag Pts
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------
1st C Rangers 38 17 0 1 44 7 14 3
3 43 17 96
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------
2nd Celtic 38 16 3 1 56 19 11 3
4 37 25 87
3rd Motherwell 38 14 3 3 41 16 10 3
5 41 33 78
4th Dundee Utd 38 10 3 5 36 28 7 3
10 29 29 57
5th Aberdeen 38 7 4 8 25 28 8 1
10 21 33 50
6th Hibs 38 9 3 6 32 24 3 2
15 22 52 41
7th Kilmarnock 38 9 4 7 27 25 5 1
12 22 41 47
8th Dundee 38 9 1 9 50 46 4 6
9 26 41 46
9th Hearts 38 8 5 6 29 31 3 5
11 19 34 43
10th St. Mirren 38 8 5 6 32 26 3 3
13 19 36 41
11th St. Johnstone 38 10 2 8 28 29 0 5
13 19 39 37
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------
12th R Dunfermline 38 4 4 10 20 34 2 2
16 15 40 24

retired_destiny1124

Here- a friend following the match on the Internet sent me this after.

21.5.03
Olimpico, Rome
Attendance- 68,645
Champions Cup Final

Motherwell (Sco) vs. Roma (Ita)
Referee- Jon E. Skjervold

Lineups-
Motherwell
GK- Mark Brown
DL- Steven Hammell
DR- Craig McEwen
DC- Alan Archibald
DC- Christian Dailly (C)
DMC- Billy McKinlay
MC- Mark Kerr
MC- Stephen Pearson
MC- Steven Nicholas
SC- Kevin Twaddle
SC- Steven Milne
Bnch- John Connolly
Bnch- Paul Ritchie
Bnch- Richard Montgomery
Bnch- Stephen Whalen
Bnch- Keith Lasley
Bnch- Neil Scally
Bnch- Kiegan Parker

Roma
GK- Ivan Pelizzoli
DL- Vincent Candela
DR- Cafu
DC- Walter Samuel
DC- Saliou Lassissi
ML- Alex
MR- Figo
MC- Francesco Totti
MC- Emerson
SC- Vicenzo Montella
SC- Antonio Cassano
Bnch- Cristian Sebastian Cejas
Bnch- Christian Panucci
Bnch- Assuncao
Bnch- Damiano Tommasi
Bnch- Gabriel Batistuta
Bnch- Antonio Carlos
Bnch- Henri Scheweleff


Minute-Play
8- Totti indirect free kick, Emerson header saved by Brown
10- Nicholas knocks ball down for Twaddle- loose ball gathered by Pearson-
Pearson low shot, bounces in off the post
Pearson goal, Motherwell 1-0
11- Kerr passes in to Nicholas- Nicholas with time- a rocket parried by
Pelizzoli, collected by Lassissi
12- Candela jinks by McEwen- Candela with room, hard swerving blast sails
just wide of the post
14- McKinlay with a push on Totti, Referee over- there's the yellow
Yellow Card- McKinlay
14- Free kick by Alex, shot sails high and wide of far post
18- Montella rising shot, punched away by Brown
19- Lassissi intercepts McKinlay clearing pass- into Montella, easy finish-
Montella's shot rings off the post and bounces away
27- Kerr crosses into Milne- Milne solid header, Pelizzoli brilliant parry
and ball bounces over baseline for a Motherwell corner
28- McKinlay corner- swings to far post- Dailly outleaps Candella, knocks it
down for Pearson- Figo takes it away from Pearson
31- Roma corner- Figo short to Candela, back to Figo- Figo crosses for near
post- Emerson outleaps Nicholas, heads it down for Alex- Pearson takes it
away from Alex
35- Cassano breaks past Hammell- Cassano rising blast but Brown parries it,
McEwen picks off loose ball
38- Samuel collects loose ball, swings it to Candela- Candela on the move,
twists past Pearson- Candela sends it in towards Totti in the area- Totti
leaps, strong header past Brown
Totti goal, Roma 1-1
45ExT- Figo loose in the midfield- Figo in free to the edge of the area-
Figo curling blast, good save by Brown and he hangs on

Halftime- Motherwell- 1 Roma- 1

45- Sub- Motherwell- Scally in for McKinlay
46- Roma abandoned all out attack of first half, slowing things down
47- McEwen appears to be injured, indirect free kick coming
47- Sub- Motherwell- Paul Ritchie in for McEwen
47- Indirect free kick Hammell to Archibald- Archibald to Scally- Scally
searching pass for Pearson, taken away by Lassissi
51- Sub- Roma- Panucci in for Cafu
55- Candela breaks in from left side- Candela left footed blast, Brown gets
his fingers on it and pushes away- Kerr clears the ball
57- Alex swings the ball for Figo- Figo slides pass through for Montella-
Montella over to Cassano- Cassano unmarked, Brown off his line- Cassano
looping shot skims the crossbar and over
57- Sub- Roma- Tommasi for Emerson
61- Nicholas down the right side, sends the ball in for Milne- Milne pushed
down by Samuel, free kick coming
61- Dailly takes the free kick from just beyond the edge of the area, fires
in the kick- Pelizzoli can't get it
Dailly goal, Motherwell 2-1
71- Milne low pass for Twaddle- Twaddle with room, half-volley but Pelizzoli
gathers it in
73- Pearson looping pass for Milne- Milne outleaps Candela, heads it back to
left for Kerr- Kerr stretches to reach it- Kerr booming shot sails high and
wide of near crossbar
78- Milne to Kerr- Kerr plays a 1-2 with Nicholas- Kerr rising banana shot
sails over the crossbar
82- Scally with a push on Totti, Referee over and reaching for a card
Yellow Card- Scally
82- Candela goes at Kerr- Candela shows Kerr clean set of heels- Candela
inside the area, right footed shot- Brown can't handle it, Scally there to
clear it to Nicholas
83- Milne lobs it in for Twaddle, flicks it on but Pelizzoli alert to pick
it up
87- Tommasi throws in for Figo- Figo cross to near post- Montella up, header
sails wide, was under pressure from Dailly
90ExT- Roma furiously attacking to try and even match- Figo zips cross to
near post- Montella above Archibald- Great save by Brown and hangs on
90ExT- Candela long to Alex- Alex with great control past Kerr, past
Pearson- Alex sends it to the middle- Montella runs and jumps, his header
sails over the bar, hangs his head- that might be Roma's last chance
91- Sub- Roma- Batistuta for Cassano
...there's the final whistle

Ratings
Motherwell
Brown- 9
McEwen- 6 Inj 47
Hammell- 6
Archibald- 8
Dailly (C)- 9
McKinlay- 5 sub 46
Kerr- 8
Pearson- 8
Nicholas- 7
Twaddle- 7
Milne- 8
Scally- 7
Ritchie- 7

Roma-
Pelizzoli- 7
Cafu- 7 sub 51
Candela- 9
Samuel- 8
Lassissi- 8
Totti- 9
Figo- 8
Emerson- 6 sub 57
Montella- 7
Cassano- 7
Alex- 8
Panucci- 7
Tommasi- 7
Batistuta- 7

Motherwell- 2 Roma- 1
Man of the Match- Christian Dailly, Motherwell

***

How did I feel? What kind of stupid question is that? You get paid for
asking stupid questions? Of course I felt great, but it was such a blur- it
didn't sink in while everything was moving so fast. The trophy was
wonderful, here are some pictures- silly ones that didn't make the press- of
the boys with the cup. It was funny, as the match was winding down and the
fans we had, which weren't all that many, were loudly cheering- the Roma
fans were so quiet. They were in it down to that last header from Montella,
but their fans were so unusually quiet- I don't know what came over them. It
did feel like a morgue as we celebrated winning- our fans cheers were
echoing in the stadium, it sounded like a little noise in such a big place.

That book over there has loads of pictures from the match and after- most of
them weren't published. Sure, use whichever ones you want.

Reflections on the match? Now, that is a better question. My first thought
after was how happy I was that we had gotten Christian Dailly. I wouldn't
have believed how much of a difference he made with his leadership on the
club and I never really had any intentions on bringing him in- but he
certainly won us a Cup. Brownie was stellar, he was such a money keeper in
big games. Mark Kerr was the cool and collected professional that everyone
pictures him as- but he was only 21 then and already was a cucumber in tight
matches. Pearson really was a catalyst for us in the match, at times he
disappeared, but he was all over the pitch.

It was just a great moment for us- for all of Scotland really. That was my
goal from the beginning, the bitterness spurred me on, but I could see the
Old Firm clubs loaded with foreign talent- it was time to prove to them the
Scottish players can go anywhere and win anything- with their heart and
determination.
************************************************** **************************
********************
Motherwell - Wednesday 21st May 2003
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<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">============================================= ================================================== = 2002/3 Senior Club Stats============================================= ================================================== =No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts YelRed MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5 Archibald, Alan 46 1 0 0 1 50 1 7.50 1 Brown, Mark 47 0 59 0 0 10 5 7.49 38 Canning, Martin 1 0 0 0 0 00 0 8.00 33 Christie, Sean - - - - - -- - ---- 37 Connolly, John 16 0 16 0 0 00 0 7.50 43 Creaney, Philip 1 1 0 0 0 00 0 8.00 24 Dailly, Christian 21 3 0 0 0 10 2 7.62 31 Davidson, Stuart 1 0 0 0 0 10 0 6.00 41 Dempsie, Brian - - - - - -- - ---- 29 Forrest, Eddie 10 (2) 0 0 0 0 00 0 7.33 44 Forsyth, Ross 17 0 0 0 1 00 0 7.24 46 Fotheringham, Martin 8 (13) 2 0 0 4 10 2 7.14 32 Gallagher, Mark 1 0 0 0 1 00 0 8.00 3 Hammell, Steven 41 0 0 0 3 10 1 7.00 39 Howie, Willie 8 (8) 2 0 0 6 00 1 7.56 8 Kerr, Mark 42 7 0 0 20 10 7 7.79 17 Lasley, Keith 16 (15) 4 0 1 (0) 3 00 2 7.13 12 Leitch, Scott 5 (2) 0 0 0 1 10 0 6.86 35 Lindsay, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 ---- 14 McAllister, Brian 10 (1) 1 0 0 0 20 0 7.36 42 McDonald, Kevin 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 ---- 2 McEwan, Craig 35 0 0 0 3 20 0 6.66 11 McFadden, James 3 (1) 0 0 0 0 00 0 7.00 13 McKenzie, Roddy 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 ---- 21 McKinlay, Billy 31 (6) 3 0 0 9 80 1 7.27 20 McLaughlin, Barry 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 ---- 25 McSporran, Jermaine 1 (13) 4 0 0 0 00 0 7.21 26 Miller, Kenny 4 5 0 0 1 00 2 9.00 19 Milne, Steven 31 (10) 19 0 0 6 00 7 7.66 6 Montgomery, Richard 30 (4) 0 0 0 0 30 1 7.15 7 Nicholas, Steven 41 10 0 0 4 00 1 7.24 23 O'Donoghue, Ross 14 (2) 4 0 0 6 00 3 7.69 10 Parker, Kiegan 24 (15) 10 0 0 3 20 1 7.31 45 Parkin, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 ---- 4 Pearson, Stephen 38 (1) 12 0 1 (1) 4 10 3 7.44 18 Ritchie, Paul 20 (4) 1 0 0 0 20 0 7.46 36 Ross, Maurice 23 2 0 2 (2) 2 20 0 6.87 28 Scally, Neil 25 (2) 2 0 0 5 70 5 7.93 30 Slater, Mark 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 ---- 9 Twaddle, Kevin 35 (1) 16 0 3 (2) 5 00 2 7.53 - Tweed, Steven - - - - - -- - ---- 15 Whalen, Stephen 23 (8) 12 0 0 10 00 1 7.81 16 Wood, Martin 22 (4) 13 0 0 2 10 1 7.38 22 Young, Jason 0 0 0 0 0 00 0 ---- </pre>

retired_destiny1124

Thanks poolstudent- not sure how soon the National side will give up on Mr. Dalglish as their manager.

retired_karamelkel

Way to go Faramir! Congrats and good luck with the nat, side.

retired_destiny1124

Thanks Educated -- will be interesting to see how long it takes to land the National job

***

Rangers did manage to double as well- they stomped on Dundee United 4-0 to win the Scottish Cup. Dundee was done in by an uncharacteristically bad performance by keeper Paul Gallacher.

In the awards stage, Tore Andre Flo was Scottish Player of the Year. He beat out Emile Heskey and Bobby Petta. I remember thinking then it was only a matter of time before my youngsters started garnering the recognition they deserved and that we wouldn't have three foreigners as the best players in Scotland. The Young Player of the Year side was swept again by Motherwell players. Mark Kerr was deservedly selected for the honor, with Ross O'Donoghue and Willie Howie right behind him.

It is funny looking back at how fast the upheavel came to the coaching staff following the Champs Cup win. Mark Shanks, who was 60 at the time, decided it was time to retire from football- so I was already in need of an Assistant Manager. Stephen Morrison got into a feud with Brownie and John Connolly- it was a choice between them or him- guess who went? With those two leaving and the fact that we only had three coaches before this, it was time to hire a more complete staff. Craig Shearer of Clyde came on board as my new Assistant Manager and Steven Hunter, Jake Ferrier and John Robertson were all hired as coaches.

When the top 3 European Goalkeepers were announced- I had a good laugh. Fabien Barthez (ManU) was selected top keeper, with Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) and Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) following- do those clubs sound familiar?

Vincent Candela won Euro Defender of the Year, which I heartily agreed with- after seeing him terrorize my midfield in the Final. Lazio's Fabiano Liverani was both Euro Midfielder of the Year and World Player of the Year. He was followed by the Roma combo of Francesco Totti and Figo. Euro Forward of the Year was Vicenzo Montalla of Roma, followed by Christian Vieri of Real Madrid and Carsten Jancker of Bayern.

I noticed that Ronald de Boer decided he was ready to return home to Holland and left the Rangers. I thought that might just be the start of the exodus, where the older Euro players at Rangers and Celtic started moving back home.

The 4 Million we received for winning the Champions Cup came in handy as the Board decided to expand Fir Park by a little more than 4000 seats. It also allowed me leverage to talk them into future upgrading of our training facility.

It was mostly a quiet first portion of the summer. We had given the players a month off before getting back to training with the new staff. Scott Leitch signed with St.Johnstone on Bosman and was set to leave on August 30th. One player I would have liked to add instead went to Sunderland. Jamie McCunnie is the best young rightback in Scotland, but I couldn't see investing over 7 Million to purchase him- so Sunderland got him- the English clubs generally had a lot more money than us Scottish ones, though my warchest was substantial at that time.

I was surprised when I received congratulatory phone calls from Advocaat at Rangers and Svensson at Celtic for winning the Champs Cup. Apparently, they realized long before I did that our Cup win meant there would be three Scottish clubs in Champs Cup play. Dundee United and Aberdeen qualified for UEFA and Hibs was the Inter-Toto qualifier.

It was weird to get contacted about the Super Cup- where we will face Schalke O4- in Monaco for late August. When I set up our friendlies, it was surprisingly easy to get major clubs interested this time. What? Of course I am being sarcastic. Did you really think clubs wouldn't want to schedule the holders of the Champs Cup? Our friendlies were scheduled with an eye for Europe- Rosenborg and Ajax at home- Monaco and Club Brugge on the road. Yes, the Monaco match was scheduled to give the boys a little playing time on the pitch we would face Schalke 04 on for the Super Cup.

National Manager Kenny Dalglish put me squarely on the spot during the runup to the friendlies. He came out and said that he thought we were favorites for the SPL title. The Board had already let me know they expected us to contend for it, but Dalglish's comment forced a public reaction from me. I told the press what they wanted to here- that I thought our club was as good as any other in the SPL. Privately, I wasn't worried about us being better- I was sure we would be more consistent. What I was worried about was Celtic or Rangers maintaining a scorching pace like they did last season. If they lost as few matches as they did last season- it was going to be tough to stay with them in the hunt for the title. Still, I was confident- both for SPL and for Champions Cup play. The club would be changed somewhat, but was definately battle tested at this point.

The beginning of July brought three more players in on previous signings. We added DC Marc Cocozza, SC Paul Shields and SC Scott Michie to our wealth of young Scottish talent.

Despite Dalglish's assertions and my responses, several papers were only too eager to write off our chances in the SPL. They called us a flash-in-the-pan, that "glowed brightly for the last couple seasons- but would flame out this time." I blew up when I saw those comments. My terse reply to the press was, "Just watch where we are at season's end."

I have to admit I wasn't quite prepared for some of the turmoil going into that season- but I should have been. Blinded by my success I guess. On the plus side we added 19 year old AM/FC Robert McKeown from Aberdeen for 1.3 Million. Several in the press thought that was an excessive amount for a player who hadn't played in the club system yet- but I had three scouts looking at him and they all thought he had significant talent. Mark Slater was sold to York for 475K. Mark lacked the physical presence to be a top-flight defender at SPL level, so it was time to sell him. The big bomb came shortly before our last friendly when Arsenal made me an 8 Million offer on Steven Nicholas. True to my word to Steven, I accepted their offer without any other conditions and they quickly worked out a contract and he moved to Arsenal. The press reported that there was widespread dissension on the club about the sale, but the only one it really seemed to bother was Steven Milne- the rest realized this moving was coming awhile ago.

While many fans decried the sale- it opened up a spot to start Ross O'Donoghue. I felt that Ross was a better midfielder than Steven, and thought the move would benefit the club. I believe Arsenal planned to use Steven more as a forward- something he was comfortble with. To his credit, he never squawked about playing midfield for us- and scored some of our biggest goals last season.

A bigger uproar was heard when I transfer listed Kevin Twaddle. It was a hard decision, but it was also a business decision and not a football one. Twaddle was a very good player and good in the dressing room, but he wanted a huge raise in wages. He was soon to be 32, and with his physical problems that he had off and on, I couldn't justify giving him the contract he wanted. It would have been easier to do it, but it wouldn't have been a good investment of the club's money. With Kenny Miller, Steven Milne, Kiegan Parker, Scott Michie, Martin Wood and Paul Shields all clamoring for playing time- the best choice was to let Kevin go for transfer funds if possible. Of course, the fans didn't see it that way- and they let me know how they felt on the matter.

retired_destiny1124

Dundee United seemed to be problems for us whenever we faced them and this time was no different. Alan Combe was a shade better than John Connolly in net- and that was the difference in the match. David Hannah blistered a free kick past Connolly for his 50th goal at Dundee early in the 2nd half and that turned out to be the only goal in the match. We outplayed them by a large margin, but just couldn't find the goal we needed.

We opened Champs Cup play by hosting Valencia at Fir Park. The match seemed to be going very well- we had a lead at halftime as Neil Scally had scored and we had their keeper- Santiago Canizares- under pressure. The second half started that way, but when Javi Moreno got up to head past Brownie, the tide certainly turned. Led by Pablo Aimar they really bottled us up the rest of the match and we were fortunate Brownie was sharp in keeping us locked at 1-1. Craig McEwen got himself two yellow cards in a fit of anger and we played the last 10 minutes down a man. We held on for the unsatisfying 1-1 draw. On the other side, Chelsea crushed Sturm Graz 5-0 at Stamford Bridge.

Celtic came to Fir Park looking very good- with only one draw and the rest wins and atop SPL. This looked like another exercise in frustration to start with as Bobby Petta caught Brownie leaning the wrong way and zipped a shot past him in the 5th minute. Kenny Miller evened it up at 11 minutes on his own rebound, only to see it ruled off. I must admit, I was pretty unhappy about the call- why hadn't he been offside on the original shot? Heskey and Sutton both came close to increasing the Celtic lead- but their shots were just off the mark. We finally evened the match when Stephen Pearson converted the penalty kick after Robert Douglas was redcarded for hauling down Steven Milne in the area. This had a double bonus for us as Heskey came out for Michael Herbert to move into the net. While they were still disconcerted, Mark Kerr added a quick 2nd goal for us. I warned the boys that we needed to remain aggressive the entire match at halftime. We hammered Herbert with shots in the 2nd half, but he stood tall and stopped us until Milne finally found space and scored at 76 minutes to put the match out of reach. The win tightened the standings up appreciably.

I was really hoping for a good result at the 'Arnold' stadium in Graz. Sturm Graz seemed to be the weakest club in our Group and we needed points from them. It looked like we might get them early as Steven Hammell scored on a rebound, but Charles Amoah evened things up at 20 minutes. Hammell scored his 2nd of the match at 23 minutes and we had another goal waved off at 35 minutes on an offside call. The match took a bad turn for us when Hammell went out at 53 minutes with a dead leg, he had been a key part of our play in the match. Graz came back and equalized when Ivica Vastic headed past Brownie at 67 minutes. Both clubs fought for the lead, but in the end we had to settle for the 2-2 draw. Chelsea managed to edge Valencia 3-2 at Valencia, so now controls the Group. We certainly needed better results if we were to advance from the Group. Leeds waltzed over the Rangers 4-0, putting them in bad straits in their Group.

Oh, by the way. Beware of players bent on revenge. I learned that lesson the hard way as we travelled to face St.Johnstone. Because of our midweek tilt against Chelsea, I was resting most of the regulars, and ended up paying for that choice. Peter Tosh had given them the early lead with a volley, but we equalized when Robert McKeown drove a shot past Mattias Asper. After that point the key player in the match was our ex-midfielder Scott Leitch. He put them back into the halftime lead with a rising shot that eluded Brownie. Leitch scored again early in the 2nd half and really put the clamps on us defensively as they outplayed us and earned the 3-1 win.

It was a tough, physical battle as we hosted Chelsea at Fir Park. A win here would virtually clinch a spot in the next round for them, while we needed a win to set ourselves up with a chance to advance. What we ended up getting was a scoreless draw that featured plenty of spectacular work in both nets. Brownie and Carlo Cudicini staged an impressive duel and the draw was a fair result. Mikael Forssell came close in the first half for them and Mark Kerr whacked the post with a drive for us. David Trezequet and John Terry both were stopped by Brownie on good chances in the 2nd half and Cudicini made brilliant saves on Kenny Miller and Stephen Whalen. It was rare to see Christian Dailly lose his cool- but he did in the last moments of the match and earned his 2nd yellow card. It didn't cost us anything in this match- but might hurt us in our next one. We left ourselves a tough road to hoe- to get out of this Group- with two of our last three matches at Valencia and Stamford Bridge. On the other side, Sturm Graz also battled Valencia to a scoreless draw at Valencia.

I caught a lot of flak for the lineup I was using against St. Mirren at Fir Park. There was a lot of second guessing about using an all 2nd-line unit after the loss to St.Johnstone. I kept my mouth shut and let our players prove that this was a good decision. Scott McLean took advantage of his first action in awhile and scored a hat-trick in the first half. Martin Fotheringham scored one more in the 2nd half and all the discussion died quickly in the face of our 4-0 win. You've heard my philosophy before, but it is worth repeating- it was a long season, especially with Euro and Domestic Cups, and you have to get your regular players occasional rest- otherwise you will crash out in all phases of the season when they are fatigued down the stretch.

Yes, I would have to agree with you- I think that our 3rd round League Cup match against Celtic at Celtic Park was a turning point in the season. The first half was an up-n-down the pitch battle as both Celtic and us were attacking relentlessly. Robert Douglas had a terrific first half, but Brownie wasn't quite as sharp and we went into halftime trailing 2-1. I know the feeling was almost a little resigned to fate, because we had again taken the lead early on Steven Milne's header- only to see them come roaring back with goals by Bobby Petta and Stephen Simmons. No, no- I wish I could say it was because of a brilliant halftime rallying speech- but it wasn't anything special actually. All I told them was that we are as good as Celtic- let's go prove it. Boy did they prove it- that 2nd half was something to behold- I am sure the 36,000 Celtic fans were stunned- actually, I was a little stunned myself. We had early pressure and it paid off when Milne picked up a rebound and scored his 2nd of the game to equalize. Celtic turned on their pressure and Heskey just missed a header to return them the lead. We made them pay for their aggressiveness when Ross O'Donoghue stole a pass and then lofted the ball for streaking Stephen Pearson. Pearson headed past Douglas for his 5th of the season and at 61 minutes we were back in the lead 3-2. The really surprising part followed that. Celtic could not turn the pressure back on. We kept after them and our passing attack was really crisp and flowing. In the 83rd minute Kenny Miller sent a short cross that O'Donoghue dove and headed home for a 4-2 lead. Then to punctuate things, Miller scored his 5th of the season in extra time as we moved on to the League Cup Quarterfinal with the momentum of a 5-2 win at Celtic Park. We did lose Mark Kerr and Christian Dailly to injuries, so it wasn't all wine and roses- but we still gained an awful lot of confidence in that win.

retired_destiny1124

Oops-- skipped over a part

***

What? Oh, yes-- I guess I did leave out how the season started...

We finally reached the start of the season amidst the turmoil. Twaddle was still with the club, but was willing to put aside his unhappiness because he was still a good 'team' player. Kilmarnock was visiting us at Fir Park to start the season. Kenny Miller showed why I think he will be one of the top forwards in the SPL this season as he scored once in each half for the only goals in our 2-0 win. We played a strong match, but Kilmarnock did give us a tussle and showed a lot of heart in staying close.

Celtic made their way through the 2nd round of Champs Cup Qualifying- only to wind up paired with Schalke 04 (the same club that knocked Rangers out last year). Rangers are up againt Kobenhaven in this round.

Tynecastle Park was the place where a Hearts club bent on a bit of revenge from last season wanted to thump us in a televised match. They saw a wild first half that began with Javier Artero scoring his first goal for Hearts.
We answered when Kenny Miller beat Antti Niemi to a cross from Craig McEwen and looped it over him to even things at 1-1. Robert Tomaschek, who had an excellent match, headed down nicely and left Robbie Neilson with an easy shot to again put Hearts into the lead 2-1. We responded again when Mark Kerr headed a chipped pass from Neil Scally past Niemi to send the clubs to halftime with a 2-2 score. We played much steadier defense in the 2nd half
and took control of the match when Kerr dribbled free and then crossed to
Stephen Pearson, whose header sailed past Niemi for the lead at 57 minutes. We kept control of the play throughout the 2nd half and limited them to only a couple chances before we finally clinched the win when Miller scored his 2nd goal of the match in injury time to finish off a 4-2 win.

Wilkie? Well the reason I offered on him- and wound up purchasing him from Sunderland for 750K- was because that was bargain price for a good, solid defender. My thinking on adding him was that he would give us more cover in the middle and possibly at defensive midfield in a pinch, because I only had Scally and McKinlay for that role. His contract demands were reasonable- my philosophy was to try and add undervalued players when I could and save the
money for the big swoops when really needed.

That was also when we completed the sale of Kevin Twaddle to the Rangers. Oh, you should have heard the hue-n-cry over that sale. Letting him go the 'Gers was the spark to set off the powderkeg. But for all the smoke and fury at the time- take a look and tell me how well he ever did for them. It was a business decision and I am still convinced it was the correct one.

The first leg of the Champs Cup 3rd round qualifying was a disaster for Celtic. Schalke 04 beat them 2-0 at Celtic Park as a poor performance from Robert Douglas did them in. Rangers went into Copenhagen and beat Kobenhavn
by the same 2-0 score.

We finally landed a 3rd Defensive Midfielder- I always wanted at least 3 on hand, due to their often having problems with abundance of yellow cards- when we purchased 25 year old Steve Thomson from Crystal Palace for 110K. I also nabbed 27 year old SC Scott McLean from Partick Thistle for 800K. He has been a top scorer and adding his veteran presence to our young corps of forwards seemed like a good move.

On paper it looked like we might have an easy time hosting Dundee at Fir Park. They were 10th coming in and had been playing poorly to start this season. After the match, it was less of a problem to remind the boys that nothing gets played out on paper- you have to earn the results on the pitch. We played well in the first half, but found ourself trailing 1-0 at halftime when Juan Sara had headed past Brownie in first half extra time. It was time to settle down and keep hammering, but they were doing a good job blunting our efforts early in the 2nd half. Our subs- Kiegan Parker (for Paul Shields) and Billy McKinlay (for Neil Scally) seemed to revive us and we were suddenly even when Ross O'Donoghue made a patented run into the area before blistering a shot past Arni Gautur Arason to even things at 61 minutes. With them momentarily jumbled, we took advantage of their miscommunication and Stephen Pearson skidded a left footed shot past Arason
to push us to a 2-1 lead at 64 minutes. They rallied, but were having little luck solving our resolute backline and we held the lead to the final whistle. In a match that really made me wonder if cracks were showing in the Rangers foundation, they took on Aberdeen at Ibrox in the Sunday night tv match and yielded 3 late goals to wind up stunned by a 3-0 home loss.

The same night Real Madrid stomped on Dortmund 3-0 to win the World Club Championship.

St.Johnstone caught my eye with a surprise signing the following day. They landed keeper Mattias Asper, someone who I had a lot of respect for, from Real Sociedad.

The press may have seen Falkirk as the 'promotion patsy' this season, but they have shown much better than that so far. Led by ex-Motherwell Michael Craig, they have proven a tough opponent. They showed us that as well. We
played a scoreless first half where Myles Hogarth frustrated Scott McLean's debut. McLean had three terrific chances all blocked by Hogarth. The Brockville Park fans were ecstatic when Richard Waddell knocked in a rebound
past John Connolly for his 1st goal at 52 minutes. They were over the moon when Collin Samuel headed a Marc Anthony free kick past Connolly at 55 minutes to make it 2-0. We didn't get to be the club we were by panicking
though and Willie Howie (who had come on for injured Stephen Whalen) drew a goal back with a dazzling run and shot past Hogarth. Howie looked set to even the match when he was hacked down from behind with a reckless challenge
by Neil Adams. Adams earned a redcard and Maurice Ross converted the ensuing penalty kick to bring us back to 2-2. We piled the pressure on, but Hogarth had regained his standing in the 'wall' society and we couldn't find the net
to take the win- settling for the 2-2 draw.

In the 3rd round qualifying for Champs Cup it was Celtic rallying, but falling short on 3-2 aggregate to Schalke 04. Rangers easily moved past Kobenhavn on a 4-0 aggregate. Our draw for the first groupings placed us with Chelsea, Valencia and Sturm Graz.

Travelling to Monaco again was fun. The atmosphere for the Super Cup was simply amazing- I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. There were a lot of headlines about Schalke 04- Scottish Killers because they had knocked Rangers and Celtic out of UEFA and were looking for the hat-trick with us. The focus for us was still to keep the match fun- but to bring pressure on them from the start. Actually, they brought the pressure in the first half- mostly through physical play. They jumped in front of us at 12 minutes when Mehmet Scholl lofted a ball that Anibal Matellan ran onto. Matellan blasted a low shot that Brownie didn't even move on and it was 1-0 them. They came close to boosting that when Scholl's rising blast just
clipped the cross bar. We didn't have a lot of offensive flow in the first half, but Stephen Pearson stepped up with a brilliant run- skipping past two defenders- before beating Frank Rost cleanly to even things at 1-1. Schalke went ahead at halftime when Niels Oude Kamphuis took a throw-in and crossed it hard. Martin Palermo beat Brownie to the ball and deflected it past him. We came out in the second half and continued playing our attacking style. At 68 minutes Ross O'Donoghue absolutely crushed a 40 yard free kick and it sailed past Rost to equalize. He was so excited he ran all the way into the net to retrieve the ball. That kick also really is what earned him MOM honors. With us back to even, we both were fighting for every loose ball. Their rough play had already earned them 4 yellow cards, so they had to be a
little cautious. At 73 minutes O'Donoghue slipped a pass into Scott Michie and Michie scorched a low shot that Rost couldn't snag- and we had the lead. They tried all manner of attacking to even things again- but we had really started stepping up and playing solid defense. Their last gasp was Henrik Larsson's rising blast in extra time- but it went high and wide of the cross bar and we celebrated with the Scottish fans that made the trip to Monaco. You know the funniest thing though was that Scott Michie was complaining about too much competition for first team in the week before the match- he was completely floored to even be on the bench for the match- and then he scored the match winning goal. It was quite a change of attitude for him.