Source: FOOTYMAD
Motherwell 3 St Johnstone 0
A one-sided semi-final played in a fine spirit. St Johnstone got what they deserved as they did not present any goal-threat throughout the 90 odd minutes of the game. St Johnstone v Motherwell. Not the Scottish Cup semi-final that the TV companies would have liked but that did not detract from pleasure shown on the faces of the fans from Perth and Lanarkshire as they headed to Hampden. Estimates for the crowd ahead of the game were just creeping over the double figures of thousands. In the end the count was 11,920 with at least 70% of them going home happy. And they could have gone home at half time. Motherwell were 3-0 up by 38 minutes and were under no great to have anything in the goals against column by the end of the game. Goals from captain Stephen Craigan, Jamie Murphy and John Sutton in 4, 14 and 38 minutes did the damage. Despite some decent football from St Johnstone, there was no threat to Randolph breaking too much sweat in the first 45 and he could have had a chair with him in the second half really. Craigan's goal really must have knocked Saints for six as they were never I the races after that. A fine headed goal from the captain showed Motherwell the way to do it. And that was that really. Murphy scored a good goal after strolling along the edge of the penalty box before picking his spot to the right of Peter Enckelman's out-stretched and despairing right hand. Sutton's goal was a bit of a peach really. He headed the ball onto Murphy who tipped it from his head to find Sutton ready to volley the ball past poor Peter to pick it out of the net for the third time. The second half was one of little incident. Motherwell did enough to stifle out a slightly more lively St Johnstone side. However, there were no real threats to the scorekeepers. The Motherwell fans in front of the press box were concerned that their side were not adding to their score but they should not have worried too much. Derek McInnes must have known he would not have much singing and dancing to do in the second half as he was wearing his tracksuit jacket for the second half. McCall was relaxing is his Ally McCoist outfit of tracksuit top and shorts. He must have known he would have the warm glow of victory to keep him warm. All's well that ended well for Stuart McCall and his men. Now, just which side do they want to face in the final? Motherwell: Randolph, Huthison, Hammell, Laskey, Craigan, Hateley, Humphrey, Jennings, Murphy, Jeffers, SuttonSubs: Hollis, Ross, McHugh, Jones, Gunning St Johnstone: Enckleman, Mackay, Grainger, Anderson, Duberry, Morris, Davidson, Craig, Moon, Invincibile, SamuelSubs: Smith, Maybury, Caddis, Robertson, May
