Over the last couple of months there appeared to be three certainties in life Hamilton would go down from the SPL, Hearts would finish third and St Johnstone wouldn’t score. How times have changed.
Saints have discovered the goalscoring habit, Accies have eaten up the gap between themselves and second-bottom St Mirren and Dundee United are possibly one win away from setting up a final day shoot-out with the Tynecastle men for a place in Europe.
The Tangerines need to beat Rangers at Ibrox on Tuesday night and hope Hearts don’t do the same against the other half of the Old Firm to ensure everything’s up for grabs when the two sides meet at Tannadice on Sunday.
It’s a big ask, given that the champions are closing in on another title, but the fact they’re in with a chance of taking their pursuit of Jim Jefferies’ side to the last day of the season is something to be proud of in itself.
United defender Garry Kenneth put their late surge into context, saying, “Somebody said to me that 10 weeks ago we were 21 points behind. To come back from that distance would be a great achievement.
“We heard that Hearts had lost to Rangers before we started, and we knew that if we could get a good result against Motherwell, and then manage to do the same at Ibrox on Tuesday night, it would keep us in with a chance of taking third place and getting into Europe.
“We’d have wanted to win the Motherwell match whatever Hearts had done, but it definitely gave us a boost to hear their score.
“They’ve conceded four and we’ve scored four so there’s been a big swing in goal difference as well.”
United’s win was every bit as convincing as the scoreline would suggest.
The highlight of the afternoon was a 13-minute Jon Daly hat-trick, but there were a few near misses for the home team even before the Irishman had scored his first on 36 minutes.
Johnny Russell saw a spectacular left-foot volley from 18 yards just miss the top corner, a lively Morgaro Gomis had a right-foot curler well saved and Craig Conway wasn’t far away with a shot at goal after he had cut in from the right.
Daly’s opener was a header at the back post from a Paul Dixon free-kick which was hoisted into the box from a long way out.
Uncharacteristic hesitancy from ‘Well keeper Darren Randolph made the Tannadice skipper’s task that bit easier than it should have been.
Just before the break, Kenneth threaded a ball through the middle for Daly, who expertly rolled marker Shaun Hutchinson and shot low past Randolph.Game overIt was game over four minutes after the restart when Maurice Ross failed to cut out a Dixon cross and Daly took full advantage with a left-foot finish.
He could have had two more, but he missed the target with an attempted lob and hit the side of the post with a header from the tightest of angles.
In recent months you’d have been more likely to see Daly alongside Kenneth in United’s defence than in attack, but he showed young sharpshooters Russell and David Goodwillie that there’s life left up front in the old gunslinger yet.
Kenneth said, “The gaffer actually joked at half-time to Jon ‘I thought you were a centre half’. I’m delighted for him. It’s good to have Jon back in the team and he led the line really well.
“He’s still fighting away and it was a great hat-trick.”
The fourth goal came with two minutes left on the clock and was Keith Watson’s first for the club.
His shot wasn’t the purest strike, but substitute Andis Shala took a swing and a miss as it travelled towards goal, deceiving Randolph.
United’s poor display at Celtic Park the week before had forced a re-focus, according to Kenneth.
He said, “We got back to basics and it showed. We were playing against a good side and we battered them basically. We started sharply unlike last Sunday and we passed the ball well unlike last Sunday.”
On possible back-to-back wins at Ibrox, he said, “We want to spoil their party. If we keep them quiet for 20 minutes the crowd will start to get on their backs. Their punters will be looking for another 4-0 on Tuesday.
“We know how to play Rangers at Ibrox and we’ll be looking to repeat what we did a few weeks ago.”
United manager Peter Houston admitted that the Motherwell team they comfortably took care of had “one eye on their cup final.”
“But we got rid of the silly mistakes of last week”, he added. “Jon Daly scored the perfect hat-trick left foot, right foot and header and I’m delighted for Keith.
“He was gutted when he heard Andis being announced as the scorer, but I’ve seen the DVD and it’s Keith’s goal.”
Fir Park boss Stuart McCall didn’t put up their looming Hampden appearance as an excuse.
He said, “No matter what team we put out and no matter what team we’re playing against, we can’t defend like that. All the goals were down to defensive lapses.”