03/11/01 Motherwell 1 Parscelona 3
November 3rd 2001
Hamilton Palace, Hamilton
Parscelona
picked a good time to record a rare victory in their first encounter with
Motherwell. Not only were Well still on the lookout for their first victory,
the winners of this game had a place in the next round of the cup waiting for
them.
The home team had
the better of the early play, with Keith Mackie being forced into a couple of
good saves and Jason and Jamie both needing to make important tackles.
Parscelona had a
couple of half chances – Alex Mercer’s lob fell short while a lucky break of
the ball was cancelled out by an unlucky one when the ball spun away from Alan
Maxwell’s feet just as he looked to shoot – but it was Motherwell who took the
lead. The ball was not cleared properly and a shot from the edge of the Pars
box caught Keith on the wrong foot and gave Well the lead.
Both teams put
together some good runs but Motherwell had the more clearcut of the first half
chances, with one goalmouth scramble being eventually cleared by the Pars and a
later effort being driven off the woodwork. Pars did have some attacking
pressure, particularly through Mooney and McKean, but struggled to get the
final shot on goal.
Having weathered
the storm again as Motherwell had a couple more shots at goal, Pars finally
grabbed an equaliser in the 68th minute. Ally Mooney found himself through on
goal with both a defender and the goalkeeper bearing down on him and quickly
chipped the ball over the keeper’s head and into the net.
This gave
Parscelona increased confidence and after Ally and Cammy had both notched up
another shot at goal each, the Pars managed to grab the lead.
With quarter of an
hour remaining, Alan Maxwell elected to ignore the shouts from his team-mates
in the box and tried to squeeze the ball past the Well keeper at the far post.
The keeper palmed the ball away and it was knocked out for a corner. The corner
kick found its way to the near post where a mass of men collapsed on top of it.
After much poking and prodding the spectacular stramash ended up with Ally
Mooney’s backheel trickling in at the post.
Motherwell began to
fight back and forced Keith Mackie into another couple of saves but the Pars
were clinging on.
With less than five
minutes remaining, the game descended into handbag swinging. A foul on Ross
Arnott seemed to upset Cammy and his stupid kick at a Well player was greeted
with disdain by a Well defender. Much swearing and squaring up followed, both
were booked, and the game continued.
Despite another couple of shots at goal, it was Pars who were to finish the match on top. Into injury time, a cross from the right beat the Well keeper and Ally Mooney’s diving header into an empty net rounded off a hat-trick for him and a good victory for Parscelona.
Pars squad: K. Mackie, J. Wilson, F. Clark, M. Falconer, C. McKean, D. Sanders, G. Davidson, A. Maxwell, Alex Mercer, Alasdair Mercer, C. Wilson, J. Hunkin, J. MacDougall, R. Arnott, A. Mooney