42

Fir Park

Saturday 4^th April 2026

Unless poor availability or poor weather derails the start of the cricket season it is likely that this trip will be my last visit to an SPFL ground this season. Luckily it’s a game that I have been looking forward to since I first made the arrangements for it and, as you’ll see, it fully lived up to expectations.

There are three premiership teams that have been the surprise packages (in a good way) of the season this year. Hearts are the team that everyone has been paying attention to as they are still three points clear at the top of the table with just seven games to go. The other two teams are today’s opponents, Motherwell and Falkirk.

Until the past few weeks you could just about argue that Motherwell were in the title race. Yes, they would have needed an almost flawless run to the end of the season and for some other results to go their way but even the fact that this could be suggested with ten games to go was an achievement in itself. Unfortunately since then they’ve gone winless in three games and are now focussed on trying to hold off Hibs for fourth place and keep the last European qualification spot.

Falkirk come into the game needing only a point (or a win for Rangers against Dundee Utd) to confirm their place in the top six at the split, a remarkable achievement given their stratospheric rise from mid-table mediocrity in League 1 just a few seasons ago. They are also prepared for a Scottish Cup semi-final against their arch-nemesis Dunfermline Utd and a win there would cap off a season that far surpasses anything even their most optimistic fans could have hoped for.

Train timings weren’t in my favour for this trip which meant the day started earlier than I would have liked on the 0944 train from Aberdeen to Glasgow. As I got to the station I realised that I would be joined by a large number of Aberdeen fans who were also heading south to see their team take on St Mirren. About a month ago Aberdeen had ‘poached’ St Mirren’s manager, Stephen Robinson to belatedly replace Jimmy Thelin and try to rescue them from their ongoing relegation battle. As far as I could tell neither set of fans were happy with the change.

We made it to Dundee where we were then joined by some Dundee United fans who were off to Ibrox for their game with Rangers. There were probably more Rangers fans that got on the train than Dundee United fans though which demonstrates one of the big issues in Scottish football, regardless of where you are there are likely to be more fans of the Old Firm than fans of all the local teams combined.

Having arrived at Glasgow Queen Street I wandered down to Central for my train on to Motherwell. This was my first time seeing the station since the devastating fire at the start of the year. The area is still sealed off with only certain entrances and exits for Central Station being used to try and keep people away from the site of the fire.

I made my connection with plenty of time to spare and arrived at Airbles for the mile or so walk to Fir Park. Unfortunately between leaving Glasgow and arriving in Motherwell the light drizzle I’d seen all day had turned into torrential rain so I hurried along stopping for periods in each bus shelter that I passed. When I got to the ground I made my way into the club shop to wait for the gates to open. The kind assistant on the till offered me a large bag for the pin badge I had bought, having spotted that my book was starting to get quite wet.

I hurried round to the right gate and quickly found my seat. I was in the Phil O’Donnell stand, named in memory of Motherwell’s former captain who tragically died on the pitch in 2007. I’d been tempted by the lure of padded seats (which were fine) but had read online that the leg room was a bit stingy. This had been dramatically understated however, there was essentially no leg room at all, I’m a very average height but I couldn’t sit with my legs straight in front of me. Luckily no-one turned up in the seat to my left so I was able to sit at a bit of an angle.

The game started with a bang. Falkirk won a free kick in a dangerous position when Calvin Miller was held back by Stephen O’Donnell after just a couple of minutes. The resulting cross found the head of Barney Stewart and it was no problem at all for him to direct it past Callum Ward in the Motherwell goal. The fans around me complained that it had been far too easy and they were absolutely right, the Motherwell defence had barely moved.

Under their manager, Jens Berthol Askou, Motherwell like to play high possession tiki-taka style of football. One effect of this is that it invites the opposition to play a very high press. I don’t know whether Falkirk were doing this more (or more effectively) than other opponents but it really seemed to rattle Motherwell, albeit not enough for them to change their tactics. At one point a pass back to Ward, who plays very much as a sweeper-keeper, was hurried by Falkirk and the attempted clearance ricocheted off a Falkirk player and went just wide with Ward stranded in no-mans land.

Motherwell were struggling to string any passes together and couldn’t seem to find a way into the game. That changed out of the blue just after half an hour. A corner from Motherwell’s right was headed away but only as far as the edge of the penalty area. As it began to drop Elliot Watt ran on to it and hit it on the volley back across goal. Scott Bain in the Falkirk goal got a hand to it, and should have done better, but didn’t manage to keep it out.

If the Motherwell fans had hoped that the goal would lead to an improvement in quality from their team then they were to be disappointed. Whenever Motherwell would play out from the back they would start with a central defender passing the ball to Ward. He would then play another pass to the other central defender who was around the penalty spot. This player would usually draw Miller and Stewart to challenge him for the ball and he would then flick a pass out wide to either the right or left back. It looked a high risk strategy and there had been a few hairy moments during the first half. The benefit of it was that it would often lead to lots of space down the wings although Motherwell seemed to have few ideas of how to use this and their slow play usually let Falkirk get back into their shape before an attack could be constructed.

Motherwell’s luck ran out just before half time though. The situation described above played out again but this time a couple of the passes weren’t quite heavy enough. Falkirk were harrying the Motherwell defence and Miller drew the mistake from Ward who missed the ball and left a simple tap in for Ben Broggio at the back post. It was an embarrassing goal to concede and most of the fans around me had seen it coming from the start of the game.

The halftime entertainment today consisted of an easter themed egg and spoon relay race featuring the three mascots from each team. There were loud shouts of cheat when a five year old girl from Falkirk was clearly holding her egg on the spoon but even with help from the easter bunny Falkirk weren’t able to catch Motherwell and the home fans had something to cheer about at least.

Getting a goal just before halftime had done wonders for Falkirk’s confidence. They came out for the second half and were very comfortable on the ball. They even tried a couple of very ambitious lobs one from just about on the halfway line and the closer effort when Stewart, as he did all afternoon, won a flick on that was pounced on by Miller. He took a second to look up and tried to put the ball over Ward who scrabbled back and just about managed to tip the effort onto the top of the post.

With an hour gone Falkirk won a penalty when Ibrahim Said dragged his man down in the box while defending a corner. It looked a bit soft from where I was sat but there weren’t really any complaints from the Motherwell players. Miller never looked like missing the spot kick and got the goal his effort during the afternoon had deserved. Shortly afterwards both he and Stewart were replaced and on the evidence of this game it’s difficult to understand why they aren’t both in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad. They certainly looked far more effective then many players who had made the teams for the recent Japan and Ivory Coast games.

Falkirk looked content with three goals and while Motherwell had increasing amounts of the ball they struggled to create many clear cut opportunities. The best of the second half had fallen to Tom Sparrow after a long crossfield ball from Emanuel Longelo. He had sprinted past the last man and controlled it brilliantly but his shot was way over the bar.

The only other chance of note fell to Tawanda Maswanhise when he was played in by Eli Just in the 94th minute. He took a touch and then slotted past Bain but by this point the game was all but done. Falkirk had the three points they needed to secure a top six spot but the scoreline didn’t really reflect the ease of their win.

I didn’t have much time to catch the first of my trains heading home so I rushed away from the ground and back to the station. I made it in time and had a much more leisurely walk through Glasgow to make my connection. The train home was repeatedly delayed due to storms that were blowing their way through Scotland which meant I had even more time to ‘enjoy’ the company of a group or middle-aged women who were extremely drunk, playing different music from two phones at full volume, and dancing in the aisles; and yet it’s football fans that have the bad reputation… Thankfully they got off at Dundee and the rest of the journey, whilst slow, was uneventful.

The Facts

• Ground
  • Fir Park
• Home
  • Motherwell
• Away
  • Falkirk
• Competition
  • Scottish Premiership
• Result
  • 2 – 3
• Scorers
  • Elliot Watt, Tawanda Maswanhise | Barney Stewart, Ben Broggio, Calvin Miller
• Attendance
  • 8,244
• Cost
  • £27
• Total distance travelled
  • 264 miles
• Transport
  • Train
• My MotM
  • Calvin Miller, since I have stopped autmatically picking home players this had to go to a Falkirk player. Miller was a real handful while he was on the pitch, he linked up well with Stewart, ran at the Motherwell defence, and always had an eye for goal.