Online Reporter
TAWANDA Maswanhise was the star of the show for Motherwell as they became the first side to progress to the knockout stages of the Scottish Premier Sports Cup on Tuesday evening.
The Zimbabwe forward doubled Motherwell’s advantage with a cool low finish after Apostolos Stamatelopoulos had tapped in the opener, but his second of the evening was even better.
Cutting inside from the left, Maswanhise bent a delightful curling shot into the top corner from outside the box to seal all three points.
It ensured Jens Berthel Askou’s side progress to the next round of the competition, sealing 11 points from a possible 12 in Group G.
The manager, for the third game running, named six changes to the side that beat Stenhousemuir on Saturday.
Calum Ward, Johnny Koutroumbis, Paul McGinn, Liam Gordon, Emmanuel Longelo and Elliot Watt all came in for Matty Connelly, Stephen O’Donnell, Kofi Balmer, Ewan Wilson, Andy Halliday and Tom Sparrow.
The Steelmen knew a win in 90 minutes would confirm top spot in Group G, with a round of fixtures still to take place this coming weekend, and as such, Motherwell started on the front foot.
The home side, with a high press and full of energy, dominated the first 25 minutes as Dougie Imrie’s men were pressed back into their own third.
The breakthrough came in the second half as an angled half volley from Koutroumbis brought out a fabulous save from Storer but as the ball rebounded from the face of the crossbar, Stamatelopoulos bundled it over the line to open his account for the season.The Aussie striker almost added another a few minutes later, but his deft flick from Maswanhise’s cross drifted wide of goal.
The Steelmen needed a second goal to kill off Morton and their hopes of claiming top spot, and it arrived seven minutes from time.
There was a bit of luck as Gordon’s through ball took a deflection off Dylan Corr and into the path of Maswanhise.
The Zimbabwe international showed little sympathy as he confidently slid the ball low past Storer.
The winger went one better in injury time when he brilliantly curled the ball high beyond the ‘keeper to claim his fourth goal of the Cup campaign. —BBC/Motherwell
Mathew Masinge