Gretna get third degree from hosts

GRETNA 1 - McGill 51 - MOTHERWELL 3 - Porter 26; McCormack 47, 89

IT WAS all about thirds yesterday at Fir Park. Motherwell reclaimed third place in the Scottish Premier League, on a third-rate pitch they share with tenants Gretna, who in turn were left cursing what they perceived as a third-rate refereeing display from everyone's least favourite referee, Alan Freeland.

In their home-from-home meeting against the permanent Fir Park residents, Davie Irons' side did their usual and only really started to cause problems once there were facing onerous ones. Hitting back almost immediately through Brendan McGill after Ross McCormack had put the 'away' side 2-0 up, Gretna then mounted their typical final 20-minute flurry. Helped by substitutes Nicky Deverdics and Ryan Baldacchino, who both forced fine saves, their revival looked on when Stephen Craigan shoved Kenny Deuchar in the Motherwell box two minutes from time. Freeland wave aside caterwauled appeals, and within seconds a hoof from Graeme Smith had allowed McCormack to put the issue beyond doubt.

The incident left Davie Irons beyond bewildered as he attempted to comprehend the rejected penalty claim in the aftermath. "I lost a player (goalkeeper Steven Fleming] to a sending off on Wednesday after he made a genuine attempt to go for the ball. Then today I saw as blatant a push as I have seen this season. I asked to speak to the referee after it, but he refused. It is our livelihoods here," he said.

Irons intimated he would be looking to file a complaint with the SFA over the post-match conduct of Freeland, who St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson last week unsuccessfully attempted to have removed from his club's cup-tie against Dundee United.

The SPL's bottom club didn't look as if they were capable of doing anything about their top flight livelihood after slackness in an admittedly makeshift central defence allowed Porter to drill the ball in from 14 yards after a Stephen Hughes shot had spun off McGill. Irons insisted the English striker was standing in an offside position but he could only have been more concerned with the positions of own backline when Hughes threaded a ball through in the 47th minute that McCormack latched on to and then lashed beyond Gretna's 18-year-old Polish debutante, Artur Krysiak.

They hit back in the 51st minute, when a low ball across the face of the goal by Mickael Buscher was missed by all except McGill at the back post and then kept hitting at Mark McGhee's side thereafter. The Motherwell manager could not be begrudged feeling his team deserved their win, even if their performance was a patchy as pitch he admitted is causing major problems. "We made chances early on a should have made it a lot more comfortable that we did," he said. "The pitch gave both teams problems and you can't play one touch football on it."

Not that either team tried. It said everything about the desperate situation Gretna find themselves in that Irons stated after his team had lost 4-2 to Hibernian in midweek that he was sure owner Brooks Mileson, taken in to hospital for tests this week, would be heartened to hear about his team's performance. They made a game of it at Easter Road after finding themselves 3-0 down, eventually slumped to their 17th league defeat in 24 games and have now taken only 13 points from a possible 72.

The Fir Park faithful, meanwhile, were entitled to be feeling a little sore after their team floundered against Dundee in their home Scottish Cup tie the other night, meanwhile. All it left McGhee's team to salvage from the season was that minor, inconsequential, matter of a third place in the league.

The Lanarkshire club appeared to be on track for that monumental achievement when Phil O'Donnell's death shook them to the core. The stormy weather last month prevented them being able to refocus on the mundane world of football but the rest of the league season will give them plenty of cause to dig out their best.