Motherwell 2 – 0 St J’stone

Boyhood Motherwell fan Dean Cornelius scored his first goal for the club in a 2-0 victory over St Johnstone.

The 20-year-old midfielder chested the ball down 20 yards out and volleyed into the bottom corner 17 minutes into his first Premiership start at Fir Park.

Kevin van Veen doubled Motherwell’s lead 10 minutes after the interval with his fifth goal of the season.

The comfortable home victory moved Motherwell into fourth place in the table and kept St Johnstone on the bottom.

Saints boss Callum Davidson made four changes following the midweek defeat at Ibrox, with Eetu Vertainen out of the squad altogether after being blamed for the opening goal.

But the visitors looked short of confidence as they suffered a sixth consecutive defeat and went a fourth game without finding the net.

Sondre Solholm Johansen made a surprise return in central defence for Motherwell while Liam Donnelly made his first start since mid-August as the Northern Ireland international and Cornelius came into midfield.

The opener came after the visiting defence could only half-clear a cross from Sean Goss and Cornelius finished in style.

The visitors’ best first-half moments came when Viv Solomon-Otabor sent a cross just in front of Stevie May, and Liam Craig powered a long-range effort not far wide.

Motherwell came close again when Tony Watt drove a cross off Goss and just past the post.

Van Veen made the second goal out of a hopeful ball down the left channel from Johansen. The Dutchman twisted and turned and managed to get his shot past Jamie McCart and through Zander Clark’s legs.

Davidson brought on midfielder Jacob Butterfield for defender James Brown and switched to a back four two minutes after the goal, but the Perth side’s comeback attempts never really got going.

The only time they threatened was in the 69th minute when Liam Kelly tipped over Callum Booth’s shot after the left-back ran on to May’s cutback.

Motherwell brought on an extra defender, Jake Carroll, for Watt in the 82nd minute and further stifled the contest.

What the managers said…

Motherwell boss Graham Alexander: “He [Dean Cornelius] made his first start at Hibs and has still trained exceptionally well even though he wasn’t in the team last week.

“We felt with the type of game it was going to be, what we wanted from the midfield three, he gives us all the things we want, and he’s a good footballer.

“You could see that from his strike. It was full home league debut and it was a great way to make it with a fantastic finish.

“I saw the guys’ video of him the other week, up in the stands when he was eight years old in a Motherwell kit.

“That’s brilliant, that’s what this club is about, continually turning out boys through the academy system. He went away but he came back and he loves the club.

“He trains exceptionally well every day and we know what a good player he could possibly be. He has still got a lot to learn and a lot to improve but I know he will put all the work in to make those improvements happen.”

St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson: “If I simplify the game, they won first contact and reacted to the second ball.

“That was it, and basically that lost us the game, which is probably the biggest disappointment to me.

“If it was tactical, if they passed it round us, if they got chances from good play….. They basically fought and they won the first ball and reacted to the second ball better. For me, that is really hard to take.

“We said in there, how do you get out of it? For me, it’s all about hard work and sticking together.

“First and foremost we need to work hard and pull each other out of a hole. We need to make sure everybody is pulling in the same direction. We can’t have seven or eight players doing it and nobody else following them.

“There’s not a simple answer to it. I have been in there in my career as an assistant manager, as a player, it’s all about hard work and sticking together and we have got to respond off the back of that.”

What’s next?

Motherwell host Livingston on Boxing Day (3pm), while St Johnstone entertain Ross County on Wednesday (7.45pm), before facing Celtic at McDiarmid Park on Sunday in a game you can see live on Sky Sports Football at 12.30pm.