Motherwell back to winning ways as Turnbull sinks Hibs

Posted Thursday, January 24, 2019 by PA

David Turnbull scored the only goal as a much-changed Motherwell side beat Hibernian at Fir Park.

Turnbull netted his fourth goal of the season after an excellent assist from his fellow youth-team graduate Jake Hastie, who was handed a first start after scoring his first goal for the club in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Ross County.

Stephen Robinson made five changes after taking the blame for their William Hill Scottish Cup exit and his team played with far more verve in the first half before giving Hibs few opportunities to get back into the game.

The win ended a run of three consecutive home defeats for ninth-placed Well and saw them cut the gap on Hibs immediately above them to five points.

Motherwell captain Peter Hartley dropped to the bench along with Carl McHugh, Danny Johnson and Ross McCormack, while Elliot Frear missed out through injury. Liam Grimshaw, Alex Gorrin, Allan Campbell, Hastie and Curtis Main came in.

Hibs handed a debut to Stephane Omeonga following his loan move from Genoa but the midfielder only lasted 45 minutes, with his major contribution a yellow card for hauling down Campbell.

Both sides lined up with wide players either side of a centre-forward and there were chances at both ends in the opening quarter.

Ryan Gauld, Florian Kamberi and Ryan Porteous all had volleys at goal for Hibs but only the latter forced a save.

Main had several shots on target at the other end but he failed to get enough power from his best chance after turning inside Porteous.

Porteous went off with a knee problem in the 28th minute, which allowed Paul Hanlon to move inside following an uncomfortable stint at left-back, with Sean Mackie taking over.

Main was inches away from Gboly Ariyibi’s driven ball across the six-yard box as Motherwell stepped up the pressure.

The breakthrough came just before half-time as Hastie turned Mackie and drove forward before picking out Turnbull’s run through the heart of the Hibs defence. The midfielder swept home first time from 20 yards.

Hibs dominated possession after the break but Daryl Horgan squandered an excellent chance on the hour mark as Mark Gillespie raced to the edge of his box. The winger clipped the ball over the goalkeeper but well wide.

Motherwell sub Conor Sammon had a better chance after being played through by Turnbull and seeing his first shot stopped by Ofir Marciano, but the Irishman hit the rebound off the post with the goalkeeper grounded.

Hibs brought on striker Oli Shaw and went for broke but Gillespie parried from Kamberi before the Swiss striker failed to get enough contact after the loose ball was driven into the six-yard box.