Quino seals cover-up for Culkin's blunder

Motherwell 1 Livingston 2 NICK CULKIN is a relieved man this morning. Even his Manchester United pal Fabien Barthez would have been proud of the goalkeeping blunder that gifted Motherwell's Yann Soloy the opening goal at Fir Park yesterday. But, at the end of a game that was at times more windswept than interesting, the fact that his Livingston team-mates rallied round to scrape another narrow away win will help to spare his blushes.

Two opportunist strikes from Marvin Andrews and Francisco Quino mean that the bottom line is simply the fact that Jim Leishman's side are just two wins away from assuring a top-half finish at their first attempt in the SPL. The Almondvale boss, it seems, was getting so excitable yesterday that referee Mike McCurry had to tell him to calm down.

For his ashen-faced opposite number Eric Black after the game, however, the only consolation came from the knowledge that his side had created enough chances to win. They just couldn't take them. "In the first half, I thought we could have been 4-1 or 5-1 up," he said. "The players worked very hard and they were still trying right up to the last minute. We're really pretty disappointed that we didn't take anything from the game."

The main sinner in this regard was James McFadden. The 18-year- old went into the match with five goals in his last four games, and had been earning rave reviews throughout Lanarkshire. Yesterday, playing for much of the match behind Stuart Elliott and Dirk Lehmann, and despite the energy of his overall game, the finish was lacking.

Few players this season have turned Livingston central defender Oscar Rubio with quite the ease McFadden displayed in the ninth minute, but all too frequently yesterday the end product to his array of shimmies and feints was missing, as on that early occasion, when John Anderson managed to scurry back in time to block his low shot. His best chances were still to come, however.

When the youngster dallied and was thwarted by Anderson once again after Dirk Lehmann put him clean through with the scoreline level early in the second half, he must have suspected it was not to be his day. When his 22-yard free-kick effort sailed just wide in the last minute he knew it wasn't.

Culkin, meanwhile, would probably be best advised to start praying now that Sir Alex Ferguson doesn't get his hands on the videotape of Motherwell's first goal. The goalkeeper's chances of making the grade at Old Trafford will not be enhanced by an incident that was reminiscent of Ray Clemence against Scotland at Hampden.

It had looked as though the quick Motherwell break that immediately preceded the goal had come to nothing when McFadden failed to latch on to Stuart Elliott's overly hasty pass. Soloy thought otherwise, cut infield and shot low from the edge of the box. Posterity will only remember the former Le Havre wing-back's first goal for the club. Afterwards, the goalkeeper admitted he had been at fault. "Hopefully its a once in a lifetime mistake," Culkin said.

"I just have to pick my head up and get through the embarrassment of the next few weeks. I have to thank Marvin and Quino for pulling me right out of it."

Although the goalkeeper' loan agreement runs out this coming Thursday, Leishman later revealed that the club are in negotiations to extend his deal for a further four months. "Nick was a bit disappointed at half time," Leishman said, "but every man in the dressing room gave him great support."

He added: "But he deserves a lot of credit for keeping us in the game. He has had some smashing games, and he'll be starting next week that's for sure."

Up until that point, although identical 3-5-2 formations had made for a scrappy first half-hour, Culkin had been the busier goalkeeper.

Although David Fernandez had an effort chalked off for offside and Scott Leitch had been forced to head clear a deflected David Bingham shot, Culkin had been forced to dive smartly to his left, to prevent Elliott's close-range effort after the Northern Ireland international had tamed an Eric Deloumeaux punt delightfully, while a McFadden drive also had the keeper scurrying across his goal.

The goalkeeper's involvement was also to continue after his handling disaster, as Motherwell briefly threatened to make the rest of the game academic, the goalkeeper saving well from a close-range Dirk Lehmann effort before McFadden once again shot into the side netting.

When those chances came and went, it seemed inevitable that Livingston would make them pay. On the stroke of half-time they did precisely that.

Fernandez swung over a corner from the left and when it broke out to the edge of the box, Bingham knocked it back into the danger zone. Rubio showed admirable poise to hold off a challenge and play in his defensive partner Andrews, who slammed it high into the net from six yards.

If Livingston had grasped the nettle with their goal just before half-time, the second half began with Motherwell still playing with initiative. McFadden tumbled in the penalty box, but no penalty was awarded.

Then substitute Steven Nicholas couldn't capitalise after Stephen Pearson had knocked over a dangerous far-post cross. Even in the last minute, Lehmann had a chance to get on the scoresheet, but his effort from 12 yards rolled agonisingly wide.

But, amid all the activity at that end, it was the Almondvale side that got the crucial goal. Lowndes held the ball up superbly and fed the onrushing Quino. The midfielder, who had scored with a fierce drive against Celtic during the week, this time chose just to pass the ball coolly beyond Steve Woods from the edge of the box. The goal sent the travelling fans home happy, and allowed Livingston's on- loan goalkeeper to sleep a little easier last night.

Copyright 2002
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