Danny Johnson fires Motherwell to cup win

Posted Sunday, August 19, 2018 by PA

Danny Johnson netted the only goal as cup specialists Motherwell kick-started their season with a 1-0 win at Livingston.

Johnson provided a neat finish in the 23rd minute following an open start to the Betfred Cup second-round tie and Motherwell managed the game well afterwards.

Motherwell have lost their opening two Ladbrokes Premiership matches but knockout games are a different matter for Stephen Robinson’s men, who were runners-up to Celtic in both cups last season.

The Lanarkshire side have now won 15 cup ties in 13 months and Livingston became the seventh top-flight team to exit competitions at their hands during that time.

Both sets of players deserve huge credit for providing an entertaining spectacle on a difficult surface. Livingston’s new artificial pitch remains swamped with tiny black pellets which kick up on contact and appear to slow the roll and limit the bounce of the ball.

The club have given assurances that the issue will improve as the pitch settles in and there was far more goalmouth action in its second game than a goalless debut last weekend when Kilmarnock visited on league business.

The tone was set inside 60 seconds when Steven Lawless volleyed off the bar and Johnson had a shot turned past the post at the other end.

Home player-boss Kenny Miller soon came close with a dipping 25-yard strike which Trevor Carson touched over at full stretch and Motherwell also hit the frame of the goal through Johnson after Alex Gorrin had won the ball in a dangerous area on his first Motherwell start.

The chances kept coming. Lee Miller shot just wide and Carson pushed Craig Halkett’s header over the bar at one end, and Liam Kelly made an acrobatic stop from Richard Tait’s header after excellent wing play from the impressive Elliott Frear.

The opener duly arrived when Johnson swept home from 12 yards after Curtis Main’s cutback.

Motherwell immediately went looking for a second and Kelly made another two good first-half saves from Carl McHugh’s header and Main’s close-range effort after an inviting ball from Frear.

The visitors looked more in control after the restart and Livingston’s chances of mounting a comeback suffered a blow when Lee Miller went off injured 10 minutes into the second half.

Substitute Allan Campbell came close to a second when he drilled an angled shot off the post from 20 yards but Motherwell did not need the added cushion.