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3rd place Dundee was looking to try and give us our first loss as we opened the 2nd half of the season. The packed house at Dens Park saw a pretty enjoyable match and a semi-satisfying scoreless draw. Despite the fact we were going with mostly our 2nd line players, we had most of the control of the match outshooting Dundee 15-5. Mark Peat did some stellar work in their net- mostly frustrating Kenny Miller and David Graham- in keeping things scoreless. Jamie Langfield also stepped up whenever needed and earned us the split of the points.

I really thought we had Rangers in that next match. We had played so well- going up 2-0 on goals from Paul Rudden and Stephen Pearson- and we really had shut their forwards down. I have to give Barry Ferguson credit- he was not only their skipper, but the one who made them go. He scored two goals after the 80 minute mark, with the last one an equalizer in extra time and they salvaged a 2-2 draw with us. It was disappointing to let them off the hook, when a win would have put them in very bad straits indeed.

You know what was amazing at that point of the season? We had Kenny Miller only scoring 1 goal in League Play and Kiegan Parker with 3 goals- and we were still without a loss. Miller was really struggling with his goal scoring touch at that time.

Against Hibs at Fir Park, Parker finally broke out of his mini-slump. He scored a pair of first half goals to cap some excellent passing and we held the halftime lead 2-0. They managed some chances in the early going of the second half, but Jamie Langfield was sharp in keeping them from stretching the twine and Stephen Pearson converted a late penalty kick after Kenny Heemskerk was yellow carded for pulling Paul Rudden down in the area to make the final margin 3-0.

Give Kilmarnock credit- they were in 11th place at the time they came to Fir Park- but they weren't quitting. Colin Stewart was back on his best form against us and that spelled trouble. We took the lead when Stephen Whalen scored midway through the first half on a fine pass from Paul Di Giacomo. They equalized when Steven McAdam drilled a shot past Brownie. We piled on the pressure in the 2nd half and it finally paid dividends when Daniel Ogunmade broke clean on a through ball from Di Giacomo and beat Stewart to put us up 2-1 at 67 minutes. We wasted the win with poor defending in the final moments and Alan Mahon was unmarked and able to slip a shot past Brownie. It was a disappointing draw given how much we had controlled the play in the match.

Our first match in 2007 was a visit to Celtic Park. Despite the addition of Kieron Dyer, not a lot had been going right for Celtic and we just added to the unhappiness of their fans. Kenny Miller finally scored another league goal to give us the lead in the first half and Kiegan Parker scored in the 2nd half as we beat them 2-0. Richard Montgomery did a great job on Fernando Correa in that match- he was a non-factor and that is one of the reasons that we handily beat them.

Rangers went out and got some additional help after they could only draw at Kilmarnock. They landed 33 year old Brazilian forward Jardel from Sporting for 1.3 Million. Jardel had been a major scorer for the Portugese side, but seemed to be starting to trail off this season and they were only too happy to pass him to Rangers.

Forfar was well on their way to oblivion- well at least relegation- when they came to visit. They came into the match 0-3-21 and we didn't give them a chance to establish anything against us. Steven Milne struck for two goals in the first 10 minutes of play and Martin Wood added a goal shortly after that left keeper Marlon Beresford screaming at his defense. We did slack off a little in our defensive play in the second half and allowed a consolation goal from David Duke, but the 3-1 win dropped them to their 22nd loss of the season.

Right after that match, I received some of the most encouraging news I could have hoped for. Kenny Miller, who had been grousing about wanting to move to a bigger club for two seasons, and whose contract was unprotected at that point- making it likely I would lose him- decided he had changed his mind. He told me and his agent to go ahead and work out a deal- which we promptly did- and he would remain an integral part of Motherwell's success. I think his decision was triggered by my also resigning Charlie Miller to a new contract when his original one became unprotected. Whatever the case, I was glad to have both of them under contract for more time.

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3rd place Dundee was looking to try and give us our first loss as we opened the 2nd half of the season. The packed house at Dens Park saw a pretty enjoyable match and a semi-satisfying scoreless draw. Despite the fact we were going with mostly our 2nd line players, we had most of the control of the match outshooting Dundee 15-5. Mark Peat did some stellar work in their net- mostly frustrating Kenny Miller and David Graham- in keeping things scoreless. Jamie Langfield also stepped up whenever needed and earned us the split of the points.

Our next trip was to Almondvale to face Livingston in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup. We gave a strong performance that featured Kenny Miller's first half goal and Kiegan Parker's late second half goal as we managed to broom the home side by the 2-0 margin. The bad note of the match was losing Andrew Rollo for three weeks to a twisted knee.

Dundee United may have been 10th when they came to visit Fir Park, but they certainly didn't play like it. Charlie Miller scored on a volley in the first half and it appeared we might be cruising to an uneventful win early in the 2nd half. Dundee United suddenly got organized on their attack and were all over us in our end. Jamie Langfield was very sharp in keeping them off the board, but he had good support from the backline and midfield. We hung on until the final whistle for the 1-0 win- a very tough and draining match.

The early stages of our match at Dunfermline were trying. Youngster Kevin Morrison drew two quick yellow cards to put us a man down at the 28 minute mark of a scoreless match. Fortunately, the squad responded with a great effort. I was a little put out when keeper Jon Ashwood only earned a yellow for pulling down Kiegan Parker in the area- but we did convert the penalty when Stephen Pearson fired it past Ashwood to take the lead. Shortly after that Paul Rudden made a brilliant header on a cross from Pearson and scored to put us up 2-0. Being a man down, we backed off and tried to keep them from running their offense. Daniel Ogunmade subbed on for a tiring Parker and ignited things in the second half. He ran onto a through ball from Rudden to score his 5th of the season to make it 3-0. He added a 2nd goal when Pearson made a nice pass that allowed him to punch it past Ashwood to make the final 4-0.

Like all good runs, our unbeaten string was bound to reach an end- and it finally did against Hearts at Tynecastle. With a midweek return to Champs Cup play against Bayern at Munich, I was resting a few of the first line, but the real reason we lost to them 1-0 was because Antti Niemi was again performing superhuman feats against us. Their only goal came at 83 minutes when Tommy Lovenkrands mashed a shot that Langfield got a piece of- but it trickled through him. Our run of 27 matches without a loss was a new SPL record. Rangers are still dogging our heels as they also have only 1 loss on the season.

Bayern was certainly an intimidating club- even more so for just having adding Denilson. Just before we left for Munich, Jamie Langfield was hurt and couldn't make the trip- so it was going to have to be Brownie in net for us in the match. We were tentative in the opening moments and Brownie was called on to make some spectacular saves. Brownie wasn't magical against penalty kicks though and after Charlie Miller was whistled for pushing Hasan Salihamidzic in the area, Sebastien Diesler drilled the penalty by him to give them the lead. At 36 minutes, the referee returned the favor to us when keeper Gabor Kiraly pulled down Kiegan Parker in the area. The yellow card was disappointing, but at least Kenny Miller returned us to 1-1 when he converted the penalty kick past Kiraly. The match evolved into an all out war from that point on- repleat with numerous whistles, yellow cards (8 all told) and just plain tough play. They had the better chances in the second half, but we also generated some decent opportunities. Neither club could score again though and we were forced to be satisfied with the 1-1 draw. Leeds thumped Milan 2-0 at Elland Road in the other Group match.

In between our bookend matches with Bayern, we faced Division 1 Clyde at Fir Park in the Scottish Cup 4th round match. Our offense was short-circuited in the first half when we lost both Robert McKeown and Stephen Whalen to injuries. Bryan Caldwell headed past Michael McDonald (making his first senior appearance of the season) in first half extra time and it was 1-0 at the half. After not making any headway in the opening moments of the second half, we went to an all attacking formation and they couldn't handle our pressure. Paul Di Giacomo continued to prove what a fine signing he was when he set up both Jamie Fullarton (his first of the season) and David Graham in a five minute span to send us into the 2-1 lead. Clyde wasn't quitting and took the play to us in our own end. McDonald made a couple key saves before we were able to settle the match down and run out the time on our 2-1 win.

It was a stunning performance. I am certain none of our fans would have predicted it- given our battle at Munich with them, but I guess we were just primed to explode- and Bayern was the recipient. Actually, part of it was getting Andrew Rollo back from injury. I am convinced he was one of the best right backs in the world- even then- and he was a key to our ball movement. We scored first and took the lead on Richard Montgomery's booming kick past Gabor Kiraly at 9 minutes. They were full of life when Denilson made a dazzling run and shot past Brownie to even the match at 32 minutes- but you could see them lose a bit of their edge when we answered back two minutes later on Kiegan Parker's rebound goal after Kiraly had parried his initial attempt. You could tell we really had them reeling when Steven Hammell's good pass gave Michael Stewart an easy goal at 53 minutes and then Paul Rudden deflected a cross from Stephen Pearson past Kiraly three minutes later for a 4-1 lead. They were a veteran club though and regathered themselves- scoring at 74 minutes on Belazoglu Emre's goal. That was the last chance we would allow them- it was a pretty happy celebration for the 4-2 win. The win, coupled with Milan's 4-1 demolition of Leeds meant that us, Bayern and Milan were all within a point of each other and the last two matches would be crucial for advancement.

Momentum is a wonderful thing, and we really had it going into our trip to Ibrox. Rangers had gotten demolished in their last Champs Cup match as Barca beat them 6-1 in Barcelona to keep them winless. I don't know if that had a lot to do with our result against them, but whatever the circumstances- we certainly took advantage. I knew we were ready to play, but even I didn't expect that first half. We held them mostly in their own end and without a shot the entire first half. Kenny Miller scored a pair of goals and if Stefan Klos hadn't been playing so well it could have easily been 4 or 5 for us at halftime. Instead Dick Landzaat came out and scored right away to start the second half and with them only being down 2-1 it looked like a huge swing. It didn't turn out that way as we answered them with goals by Charlie Miller and Paul Rudden. To add insult to injury, Kenny Miller finished out his hat-trick with his 10th goal of the season and the good Ibrox fans went away muttering at our 5-1 demolition of the Rangers- only their 2nd loss of the season. The win moved us 11 points clear of them atop the SPL. By quirk of fate, we would be right back at them battling tooth and nail in the League Cup Semifinal four days later.

Of course the Semifinal was a war. It was strange playing the Rangers at Celtic Park, but that was the location. We stunned them again in the first half as Charlie Miller and Paul Rudden scored to give us a 2-0 halftime lead- we had shut them down again pretty well. When Stephen Pearson headed past Stefan Klos at 50 minutes- we got bit too comfortable. They rallied with a vengenace and Tore Andre Flo and Barry Ferguson scored in a ten minute span. Just like that it was a battle and we were reeling now as their pressure- keyed by Ferguson was threatening to overrun Brownie. But we were also a veteran club and we righted ourselves- played tight defense and limited them to shots from farther out. When the final whistle blew, the fans had seen a great match and we were on to the finals with our 3-2 win.

retired_destiny1124

3rd place Aberdeen were the next visitors to Fir Park. When Callum McHattie made a savage two footed tackle on Christian Dailly in the 4th minute and earned a redcard- it was trouble for the visitors. I urged our club to attack them and they responded well. Michael Stewart scored two goals and Richard Montgomery chipped in with another as we went up 3-0 at halftime. Kiegan Parker added a second half goal and it was a 4-0 rout in the books for us.

Forfar continued on their record pace as they lost at home 4-0 and with 8 matches remaining had already broken the record of allowing 90 goals on the season. They were also still winless- 0-3-27 at that point.

Our match with Milan was highlighted by unexpectedly bad performances from both Christian Abbiati and Jamie Langfield. Unfortunately, they took better advantage of their chances and edged us in a wild 4-3 match. Andriy Shevchenko gave them the lead right away with a goal in the 2nd minute, but we responded with goals from Kiegan Parker and Paul Rudden to move ahead 2-1 midway through the half. It was 2-2 at halftime when Shevchenko nailed his 2nd goal of the match. Lorenzo Amoruso's header put them up again in the opening moments of the 2nd half, but we rallied to move back to 3-3 when Kenny Miller volleyed past Abbiati at 50 minutes. Stefano Fiore sent the Milan fans home happy when he scorched a shot past Langfield at 71 minutes. We couldn't get one more past Abbiati and though we really played even with them- they were sitting atop the Group with their 4-3 win. Leeds absolutely crushed Bayern 5-0 after Gabor Kiraly was redcarded early in the match. That means we need a win against Leeds to have a shot of advancing.

We hosted Falkirk in a 5th round Scottish Cup match and it turned into a wild fracas in the 2nd half. We held a 2-0 lead early in the 2nd half on goals from Christian Dailly and Shaun Maloney, when at 55 minutes Scott Bannerman headbutted Maloney. Maloney responded by knocking Bannerman on his kiester. Both earned immediate redcards as the referee sought to maintain control of the match. Hugh Murray scored a late consolation goal for them, but we moved on to the Semifinal with our 2-1 win.

We hosted Leeds at Fir Park knowing a win would certainly move us on to the Champs Cup Quarters. We had the jump on them in the early going when Stephen Pearson gave us a lead at 6 minutes when he headed a pass from Christian Dailly past Michael Oakes. Our throng of fans was even more comfortable after seeing Jamie Langfield deny both Alan Smith and Harry Kewell before Kiegan Parker scored to give us a 2-0 lead at 33 minutes. Owen Hargreaves came close to drawing one back in the opening moments of the second half and they had early pressure- but we were really playing a strong defensive match in support of Langfield's steady work. We clinched the match at 83 minutes when Kenny Miller chipped in with a goal and the 3-0 win allowed us to edge Bayern out for the top spot in our Group after they beat Milan 2-0. We will face a club we know well there- as we drew Schalke O4. Kilmarnock edged Dundee on penalties in a replay to wind up as our opponent in the Scottish Cup Semifinals. Celtic and Hibs tangle in the other Semi.

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We faced Dundee United for the League Cup title at Hampden Park. In the opening moments Steven Hammell was whistled for fouling Steven Thompson in the area. Paul Hampshire converted the penalty kick past Brownie and we were down 1-0 in the 2nd minute. We spent the first half trying to put some pressure on them, but they were counterattacking well and Brownie had to be sharp to keep them at one goal. Barry Roche was doing good work in their net and we very frustrated heading to halftime down 1-0. We discussed tactics at half and I warned the boys we were going to come out in our usual attack, but if we didn't get some pressure early on them- we would switch to our more attacking set to try and pressure them in their zone. That was what happened in the 2nd half- they had their defense dialed in to stop our normal attack and we switched. At 65 minutes Charlie Miller (who wound up with MOM honors) headed to Kiegan Parker and he whipped it past Roche to even things at 1-1. Since it was working well, we didn't stop attacking and Charlie Miller crossed for Paul Rudden to head past Roche for his 10th goal of the season at 73 minutes to send us ahead 2-1. This time, we did back off the attacking set- but we didn't switch to our usual set. Our switch again threw them off and Michael Stewart took advantage to make a short run and blistered a shot past Roche to make it 3-1 at 75 minutes. Though we let Paul Hampshire roam too free for a goal to make it 3-2 in extra time, we closed out strongly and that was how it ended- 3-2 and our 4th League Cup, 3rd since I had taken over. We had won in 2003 and 2005- so there was a lot of ribbing in the press about our every other season claim to the Cup.

We came back to earth rather quickly as we visited Rugby Park to tangle with Kilmarnock. Gary McCutcheon was too much for our backline to handle and scored once in each half on Michael McDonald. We played a solid match- but they played an exceptional one and Heinz Weber kept the clean sheet as they knocked us off 2-0 for our 2nd loss this season. Rangers won 1-0 and trailed us by 10 points at that moment.

The National side lost 2-1 to Turkey, which left them in a 3-way tie with Turkey and Lithuania for 2nd place in their Euro Championship Qualifying Group. Germany was flying high in 1st place in the Group. Four days later they beat Luxembourg 2-0 on goals by Barry Ferguson and Kenny Miller. Germany dumped Lithuania, so that left Turkey and Scotland tied in 2nd place in the Group.

Our hosting of Dundee at Fir Park was televised and many considered it a grudge match (after us beating them in the League Cup Final). The referee certainly took that as a threat and had his whistle in his mouth the entire match. 7 Yellow cards and 3 Penalty kicks later, we were the winner in convincing fashion by a 4-1 score. The scoring opened when Panagiotis Dilberis was whistled for holding Kenny Miller in the area. Kenny converted the penalty kick for a quick 1-0 lead. It was 2-0 when Paul Rudden deflected a cross from Charlie Miller past Dilberis. Rudden scored his 2nd of the match on a free kick to move us ahead 3-0 and it was 4-0 at halftime when Dave Harper knocked Charlie Miller down in the area and Kenny Miller converted the penalty for his 2nd of the match and 15th of the season. Jamie Langfield lost his clean sheet when Charlie Miller was yellow carded for pushing Kevin Elliott in the area and Daniele Dichio converted the penalty kick for Dundee's consolation goal in the 4-1 loss.

The first leg against Schalke 04 was disappointing. We played a solid match and after Luziao's early goal- we managed to get back to 1-1 when Michael Stewart headed in a corner from Paul Di Giacomo (Charlie Miller was hurt and missed the match, that hurt us quite a bit). But we let down in the late going and they scored two late goals by Jens Jeremies and Gerald Asamoah to put us in a tough place for our 2nd leg with them.

We rebounded with a strong performance against Kilmarnock at Firhill Park in the Scottish Cup Semifinals. In a way, we were out to show them their win over us at Rugby Park wasn't the norm- and we had a lot of determination because of that loss. Paul Rudden, who earned MOM honors, scored the first goal at 30 minutes with a dazzling run. When he made another run into the area at 43 minutes, Sean Hessey was forced to take him down and Kenny Miller converted the penalty kick to give us a 2-0 halftime lead. We never gave them any hope of recovery as we stifled them in the 2nd half. The match was over when Michael Stewart made a nice run and launched a shot that eluded Heinz Weber to make the final margin 3-0. We will face Celtic (which beat Dundee 2-0) for the Scottish Cup title.

Our last match before the Playoff Group began play was a trip to Easter Road to face Hibs. They had several good chances early, but Brownie kept them at bay. Kiegan Parker scored to give us the lead early on and it was up and down the pitch play for the rest of the half, though we clung to our 1-0 lead when it ended. We were much more comfortable when Paul Di Giacomo poked a rebound past William Bald in the opening stages of the second half. We clinched the match when Ian Murray headed a free kick past Bald for an own-goal and the 3-0 win was a good way to enter the Playoff Group. We were 14 points up on 2nd place Rangers, but there was little need to remind the club of what happened last season.

With Kilmarnock at Fir Park once again- it was another tough match. Heinz Weber was very reluctant to yield us a goal- we were fortunate that Brownie was doing the same on our side. With the match still scoreless at the 64 minute mark- it was sub Daniel Ogunmade who sparked us (eventually earning MOM honors). He scored to give us the lead at 69 minutes when he headed a Michael Stewart lofted pass by Weber. Shaun Maloney (on for a tiring Paul Rudden) then setup the clinching goal with a superb pass that allowed Charlie Miller to score his 5th goal of the season. We closed out the match efficiently and enjoyed the celebration- we had clinched our 3rd straight SPL Championship and the fans had a blast enjoying it happening at Fir Park.

Sure, that decision looks great in retrospect- but I knew it could backfire as well. One away goal by Schalke 04 early in the match and we would likely be out. Still, it did work- and they didn't expect it- which is probably why it did work. I am not sure why they were convinced we would come out normally, but when we were in full attack mode from the opening whistle- well, they were definately offbalance. When Kiegan Parker and Paul Rudden struck at 6 and 8 minutes- suddenly we were up because of our away goal. Why didn't we back off at that point? Because I was sure it wouldn't be enough- I was certain we needed another goal. When Kenny Miller scored at 15 minutes and we were ahead on 4-3 aggregate, I thought about backing off- but it was working so well and they hadn't shown any signs of recovering- in the end we kept attacking til halftime. We didn't get any more goals, so it was time to back off the full attack and play some solid defense- which is exactly what we did. They had some good chances as Emile Mpenza and Luizao both skimmed the crossbar with shots, but we didn't leave anyone unmarked. When Andrew Rollo scored at 82 minutes- well the roar in Fir Park was pretty amazing. It was a great comeback against a club I wasn't sure we could beat, but we advanced to Champs Cup Semifinals on our 5-3 aggregate win.

I had the first line players all asking to make sure they could start as we visited Rangers at Ibrox. They all remembered the crowd there last season and they wanted to make a statement in this match- even though it meant nothing at all after we had already clinched. Jardel gave them the early lead with his 5th goal of the season on a rising shot that beat Jamie Langfield. We played poorly in the first half, but came out with more life in the 2nd half. We finally evened the match when Shaun Maloney (who started for Paul Rudden- the only regular that I didn't allow to start because he was really knackered from the Schalke 04 match) made a nice run and slipped it under Stefan Klos. Neither club could gain the deciding goal and it was a good 1-1 draw- enough of a statement that both the players and I were pleased with the result.

We drew Lazio in the Champs Cup Semifinals. On the other side Bayern took on holders Roma.

Dens Park was our next destination. Kiegan Parker and Robert McKeown scored to give us the early lead, but Marino Keith drew a goal back just before halftime. We went ahead by 2 again when David Graham scored, but Dundee wasn't quitting and Keith headed past Brownie to make it 3-2 again. We survived their late flurry of shots from them and took away a 3-2 win.

Our trip to Lazio for the first leg of the Champions Cup Semifinal wasn't too successful. They outplayed us by a large margin and outshot us 10-2. We were fortunate the only goal they got was Gianluca Zambrotta's first half strike. The 1-0 loss was disappointing, but still leaves us a chance in the 2nd leg. Roma beat Bayern in Munich and looked like a good bet to reach the final.

Our last home match in SPL play was hosting Celtic in a preview of the Scottish Cup Final. It wasn't really a preview from our side as I was resting all of the first line for the 2nd leg match against Lazio. Our 2nd line did just fine though as we edged Celtic 1-0 on a first half goal from Martin Wood. Brownie earned another clean sheet with good work and we received nice debuts from Stewart Cringean and David Munro on the backline.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Scottish Premier Division - Saturday 12th May 2007********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2006/7 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Motherwell 38 15 3 0 46 14 12 6 2 40 16 90 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Rangers 38 13 5 1 43 18 6 11 2 30 26 73 3rd Celtic 38 11 5 3 39 18 10 1 8 29 29 69 4th Aberdeen 38 11 4 4 41 24 5 7 7 24 32 59 5th Dundee 38 9 4 6 30 21 5 5 9 24 29 51 6th Kilmarnock 38 6 7 6 32 29 6 6 7 27 33 49 7th Hearts 38 11 4 3 35 19 5 5 10 24 30 57 8th Dunfermline 38 9 5 5 28 21 5 6 8 19 30 53 9th Hibs 38 6 8 6 32 35 5 4 9 27 36 45 10th Dundee Utd 38 7 9 3 24 17 3 4 12 21 34 43 11th Livingston 38 6 3 11 26 28 2 4 12 21 38 31 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12th R Forfar 38 0 3 16 15 54 0 1 18 12 58 4 </pre>

It would be an all-Italian Champions Cup Final. Despite Rivaldo getting a redcard in the first half, we couldn't find a way to score on Federico Agliardi and the scoreless draw meant that Lazio advances on a 1-0 aggregate. Roma easily beat Bayern 2-0 in Rome to earn their place in the Finals on a 3-0 aggregate.

PAO defeated 1FC Koln 1-0 in the hostile atmosphere of Berlin to grab the UEFA Cup.

The Scottish Player of the Year Award was finally awarded to a Scot again- as Kiegan Parker captured the honor. I was pretty proud and happy that he received the honor. He beat out Fernando Correa to win the award. Our run of five consecutive Scottish Young Player of the Year awards ended when David Reddington of the Rangers beat out our Kevin Morrison to take the honor. The only Motherwell players on the Players Team of the Year were Richard Montgomery and Michael Stewart.

Lazio upset Roma at Wembley for the Champions Cup title. Gaizka Mendieta's late goal was the match winner in a 2-1 win.
Celtic and us faced off at Hampden Park for the Scottish Cup title. Celtic had finished a disappointing season and badly wanted to capture the Cup. We wanted it to finish off our treble. It was a wild match that started off with a Kenny Miller goal at 12 minutes. We gave that one right back when Richard Montgomery headed past Jamie Langfield at 15 minutes. Lee Hendrie's header put Celtic up 2-1 at 24 minutes, but Kenny Miller struck for his 2nd of the match to move us back to 2-2 at 30 minutes. Celtic was stunned when Andrew Rollo boomed a 20 yarder past Robert Douglas and then Michael Stewart drove a rebound past him in a 3 minute stretch to give us a 4-2 halftime lead. Celtic wasn't about to quit on this though and Chris Sutton scored at 52 minutes and again with a header at 64 minutes and it was back to 4-4 and us frantically trying to change the momentum. Paul Rudden had more sensational run left in him and when he slid the ball past Douglas in extra time we had finished off the treble with a 5-4 Cup win. Kenny Miller was MOM for the match.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Motherwell - Saturday 26th May 2007********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2006/7 Senior Club Stats============================================= ================================================== =No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21 Anderson, Iain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 18 Anderson, Russell 21 (3) 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 7.04 3 Archibald, Alan 52 2 0 0 3 10 0 2 7.56 1 Brown, Mark 22 0 21 0 0 0 0 0 7.36 23 Campbell, Stuart 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 44 Cargill, Craig 5 (5) 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 6.90 39 Cringean, Stuart 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8.00 5 Dailly, Christian 26 (3) 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 7.86 35 Di Giacomo, Paul 21 (3) 4 0 0 14 0 0 3 7.54 26 Forrest, Eddie 0 (1) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8.00 37 Forsyth, Ross 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 11 Fullarton, Jamie 0 (7) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.43 25 Graham, David 9 (1) 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 7.60 20 Hammell, Steven 36 1 0 0 3 3 0 0 7.06 36 Howie, Willie 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 13 Langfield, Jamie 39 0 33 0 0 0 0 0 7.28 7 Lauchlan, Martin 4 (3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.86 31 Lindsay, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 28 Malcolm, Robert 14 (9) 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 6.96 12 Maloney, Shaun 15 (18) 3 0 0 2 1 1 0 7.00 46 McBride, Jamie 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 33 McCann, Ryan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 40 McDonald, Michael 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 22 McEwan, Craig 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 7.00 42 McKeown, Robert 9 (5) 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 7.21 15 McLean, Scott 0 (2) 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 7.50 8 Miller, Charlie 39 5 0 0 16 4 0 4 7.56 9 Miller, Kenny 45 19 0 7 (6) 7 2 0 3 7.64 27 Milne, Steven 10 (3) 7 0 0 0 0 0 3 7.92 14 Montgomery, Richard 46 4 0 0 3 12 1 2 7.65 45 Morrison, Kevin 18 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 7.06 43 Munro, David 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00 41 Ogunmade, Daniel 0 (33) 7 0 0 1 0 0 1 7.21 10 Parker, Kiegan 43 22 0 0 12 0 0 6 8.05 17 Pearson, Stephen 43 10 0 2 (2) 11 2 0 3 7.58 2 Rollo, Andrew 34 3 0 0 2 1 0 1 7.62 - Ross, Maurice 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 6 Rudden, Paul 36 (1) 15 0 0 12 0 0 5 7.73 30 Shields, Paul 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 4 Stewart, Michael 48 9 0 0 7 7 0 5 7.90 24 Thomson, Steve 15 (5) 1 0 0 2 3 0 1 7.40 19 Whalen, Stephen 18 (8) 6 0 0 2 0 0 1 7.19 38 Whyte, Graeme 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ---- 16 Wood, Martin 18 (1) 9 0 0 4 0 0 2 7.89 - Young, Peter - - - - - - - - ---- </pre>

retired_sroch3032

Great Story almost better than mine

Well done on the treble it seems Motherwell is new force to be reckoned with in Scotland and soon hopeful your squad can take Europe by storm and win it! Semi finals was a good achievement for a all Scottish squad!!

Keep it up :thup:

retired_destiny1124

*chuckle* You likely missed it DS- but we won the CL in our first shot Of course this time in the Semis was the first time we had gotten past the Group stage since then.

Hoping that the Scotland job opens- Dalglish is leading a charmed life at present.

retired_sroch3032

lol Nah i didnt miss it....just im trying to read so many stories i forgot that MINOR detail about your champions league win on your first time of trying

Yes the way Dalglish seems to be managing hopefully soon his head will be on the chopping block :thup:

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In early June the National side faced a key home match against Group leader Germany. It was a big disappointment to the sold out crowd as Germany handily defeated them 2-0. Carsten Jancker and Miroslav Klose scored the goals as the Germans threatened to put a stranglehold on the top spot. The loss meant that Scotland was still tied for 2nd with Turkey and Lithuania, but Turkey had a match in hand.

It was a summer of change. After the very little changes the previous summer- we ended up making quite a few between the end of 06-07 season and the start of 07-08. One player I wanted to keep, but knew we were going to lose was Stephen Whalen. He wasn't willing to not have a full starting role- and not surprisingly- the Rangers landed him (his contract was unprotected) during the summer- which gave us another 1.9 Million. Rangers also raided us for Jamie Fullarton- who I hadn't planned on resigning anyway. Winger Iain Anderson went on free to Forfar- he had never been able to break on to the senior squad. Stuart Cambpell signed on with Sunderland for 1.2 Million. Maurice Ross went to Ross County for 325K. Craig McEwen and Paul Shields both left the club after their contracts expired. Steven Milne went to Brentford for 1.8 Million.

We signed several players on Bosman during the summer. Alex Notman came over from Bournemouth, James Fowler from Gillingham, Darren Young and Philip McGuire from Aberdeen. Fowler and Notman were signed because I was unsuccessful in reupping Martin Wood, Steven Milne and Stephen McLaren- all of whom were on the transfer list with contracts that expired in 2008- so we needed to add some depth behind Kiegan Parker and Kenny Miller at forward. Darren Young had always been a thorn in our side as Aberdeen's defensive midfielder and pairing him with Michael Stewart had me feeling very good about the tandem. McGuire had been the rock in the middle of Aberdeen's defense and with Christian Dailly aging more- I wanted him to mix with Alan Archibald and Richard Montgomery in the middle of our defense. We also landed youngsters Joe Hammill and Mark Johnston. Hammill was a 23 year old forward that my scouts liked more than I did- but I picked up anyways at the bargain cost of 60K. Johnston was a 19 year old midfielder out of the Arsenal youth program. He cost 450K, but he reminded me of Mark Kerr (though not quite as talented as Kerr was at the same age). It was worth the investment to find out if he would develop more. We also spent 1.2 Million to acquire promising forward David Munro from Hearts. He had a lot of talent for his age and if he developed at all, I felt he might become an impact player.

Patrick Kluivert was FIFA Player of the Year, beating out Francesco Totti and Vicenzo Montella. Hernan Crespo was World Footballer of the Year, selected over Javier Saviola and Ruud van Nistlerooy.

Kiegan Parker was the Fans pick as our Player of the Year and deservedly so. Kiegan also broke our single season average rating record with an overall 8.04 average rating. The Board suprised me during the break when they Ok'd the addition of 2400 more seats- which put us over the 20,000 mark in seating capacity. I had asked them about expanding the stadium- but they had flatly told me they didn't think it was necessary. I was pleased they had changed their mind on it.

The Board wanted success all the way around- and that didn't bother me in the least. We were one of the three SPL qualifiers for Champs Cup- Rangers and Celtic also were in. Aberdeen, Dundee, Hibs and Kilmarnock all had places in UEFA and Hearts had a place in the Inter-toto Competition. Hibs edged Kilmarnock on 4-3 aggregate in their playoff to go into the UEFA competition.

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We opened 2007-2008 at home in the revamped Fir Park against Dunfermline. They gave us a good battle and played pretty well defensively. They didn't generate much offense though and we were able to coast home with a close 2-0 win when Stephen Pearson and Charlie Miller both scored late 2nd half goals. In a disappointing development to start the season for Hearts- key winger Andy van der Meyde was suspended for the next 6 months for assaulting a referee in their match against Falkirk.

Brazil, behind an extra-time goal from Dede, edged Portugal to win the Confederations Cup. Italy handily defeated Russia to finish in 3rd. Portugal had beaten Italy 2-0 in the Semifinal, while Brazil had been forced to go to extra time with Russia before beating them 1-0.

We certainly weren't going to beat our long streak of last season- when we lost to Hearts 2-1 at Tynecastle. The referee had a lot to do with the loss- as his disputed 2nd half call on Russell Anderson allowed Andy Kirk to convert the penalty kick that spurred them to their 2-1 win. Shaun Maloney had scored in the first half to even the match after Jussi-Pekka Savoleinen had scored to give them the lead. The really bad news from the match was the loss of Andrew Rollo for three months due to a knee injury.
Roma easily defeated Bayern 3-0 to win the FIFA Club World Championship. Inter knocked off Santos Laguna to finish in 3rd place.

We dominated Falkirk at home and put 19 shots at the net (13 on goal), but keeper Roger Eskeland kept the visitors in the match til the end. It was Kiegan Parker who finally solved him for our lone goal in the 78th minute. They managed only one shot in the match- and that was well wide of Brownie.

Before our midweek tilt at Livingston, we sold Scott McLean to Dundee United for 1.1 Million and Paul Lindsay to Notts County on free. It was helping that we were finally clearing a bit of roster space.

Almondvale had been a good place for us to visit in my tenure. We had only lost once to Livingston in the last 14 meetings going into the match. It wasn't an easy match by any measure and Graeme Whyte's goal in his debut (as well as MOM honors) was the the only goal of a tightly played match. We had the better of play, but Jamie Langfield had to be sharp several times to keep them off the board. It was a close match, but the 1-0 scoreline was still in our favor at the end.

Our Champs Cup Initial Group draw saw us placed with Juventus, Dortmund and CSKA Sofia. Rangers wound up in a Group with Besiktas, Leeds and Wisla. Celtic was set up with Barca, Milan and Rosenborg. Lazio had an easy time with PAO in the European Super Cup as they stomped on them by a 3-0 score.

We fell for our 2nd loss to Hibs when they outplayed us. We just didn't have a lot of offensive cohesion at that point and it showed as we had only Kenny Miller's first goal of the season to try and counterbalance their two early goals. The 2-1 loss left the Board disappointed, and many of our fans as well.

A strong performance by Lithuania, coupled with some poor work in net by Jim MacLeod and the National side was on the verge of again being eliminated from the European Championships. Lithuania moved to a 2-0 lead, but Kenny Miller drew a goal back for his 5th International Goal. That was it for the Scots though as the home side scored again and controlled the remainder of the match in a 3-1 win. Germany has clinched the top spot in the Group, but Turkey and Lithuania are now tied for 2nd. The only hope the National side had was to win their last match against Turkey and hope- but even a win would likely leave them on the outside with the tiebreakers.

We were really struggling then- especially offensively. The match against Dundee was a good example as we couldn't get much going. They had an early goal by Daniele Dichio and they made it stand up in a 1-0 loss that left the Fir Park faithful really grumbling. We had already lost 3 matches- more than we had lost all of last season and both the Board and the fans were worried. I was disappointed that we couldn't get anything clicking offensively- it meant some changes for our future matches.

Our first Group match against Juventus was a disaster. Julius Aghahowa scored early on, but when Gianluigi Buffon was redcarded for pulling down Paul Rudden in the area and then Kenny Miller converted the penalty- we seemed on the beam again. We were pressuring the 19 year old replacement for Buffon, but against the flow of play Fabrizio Sarti got up to head a long free kick from Aghahowa past an obviously out of position Langfield and they held the 2-1 lead. We threw everything at the net, but young Gaetano Porro earned MOM honors as he preserved their 2-1 win. Yes, it was after that match that I broke my hand punching the wall. We also lost Kiegan Parker for a month and Paul Rudden for 10 days- both of which will miss our next match, a crucial one at Ibrox against the first place Rangers.

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Talk about a strange match- that one at Ibrox certainly was. Rangers were undefeated and the addition of Edgar Davids, Labinot Harbuzi and Stephen Whalen seemed to have really energized their offense- they were way out in front on goals scored in SPL. We came in struggling and bitterly disappointed over the loss to Juventus and without three of our best players. So what happened- we scored right away when Kenny Miller scorches a shot past Stefan Klos. Then Klos took down Miller in the area earning himself a redcard- and we moved ahead 2-0 when Miller converted the penalty kick. Then Jesper Christiansen parried a Graeme Whyte header (he started in place of injured Kiegan Parker) only to see Whyte whisk it past him for a 3-0 lead for us. Right after that Whyte injured his knee ligaments and would miss 3 weeks- the attrition on our forwards to that point of the season was ghastly. We settled in to make the Rangers attack with only 10 men since I was quite content to sit on the lead. The referee was fed up with 'Ger antics and by midway in the 2nd half they had accumulated 4 yellow cards (on top of Klos' redcard). Edgar Davids then made a foolish two footed tackle on Kenny Miller at 68 minutes to earn their 2nd redcard of the match. Shortly after that Stephen Whalen, apparently trying to take out some frustration on his ex-teammates earned his 2nd yellow- to make it three redcards for the home side. We didn't press the attack, content to let them stew in their disbelief about the entire match and took away a resounding 3-0 win- that we badly needed at that juncture of the season.

The Rangers turned right around after the match and signed Michael Bridges from Chelsea for a 10.5 Million transfer fee- they were serious about reclaiming the title this season.

We played a superb match in Sofia and had little to show for it. We had gained the lead early on when Shaun Maloney scored and had been defending very well- shutting them down for the most part. Then Moke subbed on for them and made a nice run and curled a shot past Jamie Langfield. Despite one of our better matches- all we had to show for it was a 1-1 draw. Juventus beat Dortmund to take top spot in the Group, with Dortmund 2nd.

Back to the SPL as we were hosting Aberdeen. That was the match that put Craig Cargill into the limelight for the first time. Anytime you score a hat-trick in the first 18 minutes of the match on three brilliant runs, well you get noticed- a lot. Aberdeen scored once just before half and then were right back into it- down only 3-2 with a goal early in the 2nd half. The boys didn't panic- instead Alex Notman made a nice move in the area and scored his first goal for us as we held on to win 4-2. Hearts were proving they were for real too- as they dumped Rangers 3-1.

With very little rest we travelled to Dortmund to face a perenniel European power (at that point at least). We put forth a good effort- outshooting them and getting more good chances than them, but Jackub Wierzchowski was superb in net for them and kept us off the board. Mustafa Dogan deflected a Tomas Rosicky corner past Jamie Langfield early in the match and that proved to be the only goal they would need to beat us 1-0. The loss left us in last in our Group and our chances of advancing looked grim as Sofia beat Juventus 2-1.

It looked like more of the same problems for us hosting Dundee United at Fir Park. Mark Wilson scored on a header and we were down right away, and despite pressure, Alan Combe was keeping us off the board. We finally scored when Paul Rudden banked in a rebound for his first goal of the season. It was closely played the remainder of the first half, but we stunned the visitors as both David Graham and Kenny Miller struck for goals in first half extra time. With the 3-1 lead we were content to pressure their midfield and that also paid off when Stephen Pearson netted the only goal of the 2nd half to help us to a 4-1 win.

Next was a rematch at Ibrox with the 'Gers in the 3rd round of the League Cup. Featuring Michael Bridges, they certainly seemed confident going into the match. I have to give Richard Montgomery and Alan Archibald credit for the win- as they blanketed Bridges and Jardel and never really allowed them any room to roam. We scored two first half goals as David Graham and Charlie Miller both found ways to get the ball by Stefan Klos. Those two goals were backstopped by Jamie Langfield's excellent work and we disappointed the sold out crowd with the 2-0 win. Our Quarterfinal match wasn't going to be any easier as we faced Hearts- who were challenging Rangers and us for the top spot in the SPL in the early going.

The National squad finally awoke as they crushed Turkey 5-0. Kenny Miller had two goals and they had single markers from Mark Kerr, Scott Walker and Steven Hampshire (in his debut). The win allowed them to win out over Turkey and Lithuania for 2nd place in the Group. They were set to face Belgium for the chance to make the European Championships.

What time? Oh, yes- you're correct, that was about the time Martin Wood opened his mouth to the press. He certainly earned a lot of enmity from his teammates- privately they all wanted him gone after that, never mind that he had been on the transfer list all season.

It was a distraction we didn't need going into our match at Celtic Park. Celtic were playing much better than last year, but Graeme Whyte scored to give us the early lead. After Paul Rudden injured his ankle (would miss two weeks), Robert McKeown took advantage as he scored his first goal of the season. That was enough to allow us to survive the late Celtic rally after Kieron Dyer scored midway through the second half to get them close. The 2-1 road win was another good sign after our earlier struggles in SPL play.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle shocked favored Forfar 5-2 to win the Scottish Challenge Cup.

The late equalizer by Tomas Rosicky really was a crushing blow. Kiegan Parker had given us the lead as we hosted Dortmund in what was a must-win match for us. But, we just couldn't keep them off the board and when he scored at 86 minutes- it was just a sense of utter frustration. We would have to win both of our final two matches to even have a chance at making it to the second Groupings.