REPORT & PHOTO GALLERY: RESERVES V MOTHERWELL 16/10/18

Tuesday's Reserve Cup game against Motherwell was played at Stirling Albion's Forthbank Stadium. Here is Ben's report and photos from the game. 
There is also a short vlog of the game on Ben's Twitter page: twitter.com/1885Ben

Dunfermline exited the Reserve Cup at a dreach Forthbank Stadium against a Motherwell side that exposed defensive slackness to progress into the next round. Fielding several first team fringe players, the Pars (wearing last season's away kit) opened the scoring in the third minute after the ball broke off a Motherwell player to Kallum Higginbotham inside the box. Higgy played it across to Robbie Muirhead at the back post for a tap-in.
Motherwell equalised in the 24th minute. Broque (unusual name) Watson took the ball to the by-line and hit a shot-cum-cross that trickled past Cammy Gill. Motherwell's second goal came after a quick attack, the ball played from their right to left. Muirhead was covering for the out of position Josh Robertson at left back but lacked the pace to keep up with his opponent. A low cross was put over for Connor Sammon to finish at the back post, with 33 minutes gone.
The first half ended with Motherwell on top and Dunfermline restricted to possibly 10 minutes of pressure overall.
Kallum Higginbotham and Lewis Martin, both playing their first games after injury, were substituted at half time. Aside from setting up the Pars' only goal, Higgy offered our best attacking outlet, and was also very vocal - the 'leader' in the team. The two players were replaced by Matty Todd and Gregor Jordan.
Two minutes into the second half, Motherwell went 3-1 ahead. From a corner kick, the ball was played to Adam Livingstone, 25 yards from goal, and hit shot evaded Gill and found the corner of the net. The scorer was given too much time to line up the shot, one of several goals that could have been prevented by tighter marking. Sammon then made it 4-1 in the 61st minute from close range, again unchallenged when in a position to score.
The game's final goal came after 79 minutes. Another corner was squared to the edge of the box, a cross then floated in which Gill came for but was beaten to by Christian Mbulu who headed his side's fifth. 
A disappointing performance especially with so many first team squad players in the team. Muirhead, played on the left, does not convince as a winger, while the other fringe players did little to make AJ, watching from the stand, consider them for Saturday's Championship game against Queen of the South.
PHOTO GALLERY: