Motherwell 1- 1 Hearts

By Paul Marshall
September 27 2003

Derek Adams scored his first goal of the season but his 29th minute strike wasn't enough to give Motherwell maximum points as Hearts pulled level at Fir Park.

Suprisingly Terry Butcher gave the Forfar flops a chance to redeem themselves against Hearts while Craig Levein had a full strength squad to pick from after Wednesday's 2 - 0 win over Bosnian side Zeljeznicar in the UEFA Cup.





Hearts goalkeeper Tepi Moilanen proved to the Hearts fans there is life after Antti Neimi, the Finnish keeper twice denied Stevie Hammell from of opening the scoring from seperate free kicks. Motherwell broke the deadlock when they were handed a third free kick at the edge of the box. Derek Adams fired in a low and hard shot through a cluster of players and could have taken a deflection of Patrick Kisnorbo before going past Moilanen.




Marshall butters his fingers


However Hearts pulled level on the stroke of half time from a disputed free-kick 25 yards from goal. Scott Leitch thought he had won the ball in a challenge with Scott Severin but referee Charlie Richmond ruled the Motherwell midfielder had comitted a foul. Former St Johnstone winger Paul Hartley then rattled his shot towards Marshall who appeared to have it in his hands before it slipped into the net. Do you think he was to blame ? or was the ball wet ?


Motherwell tired towards the end after the midweek shift at Station Park and looked like they would settle for the draw which in the end was a fair result.


Motherwell

Marshall,

Corrigan,

Craigan,

Partridge,

Hammell,

Adams,

Leitch (Fagan 83),

Lasley,

Pearson,

Clarkson,

Craig.




Hearts

Moilanen,

Maybury,

Pressley,

Webster,

Kisnorbo,

MacFarlane,

Stamp,

Severin,

Hartley (Hamill 50),

de Vries (Weir 77),

Wyness (McKenna 77).




Attendance 5,888


Referee C Richmond