The goalkeepers took the plaudits as Motherwell and Ross County began the season with a goalless draw at Fir Park.
Aston Oxborough made an assured league debut for Motherwell after two years as understudy to Liam Kelly, whereas Ross Laidlaw earned his workforce a degree with a number of glorious saves.
Motherwell had the higher of the sport however are nonetheless looking for their innovative, with various attacking midfielders injured and a strike-force which is within the early levels of improvement following the departure of Theo Bair.
Zach Robinson and Moses Ebiye each missed good probabilities, with Filip Stuparevic nowhere to be seen after a poor show in final weekend’s goalless draw in opposition to Partick Thistle.
New signing Apostolos Stamatelopoulos got here off the bench halfway by means of the second half however didn’t get a possibility to open his account.
Motherwell supervisor Stuart Kettlewell handed Oxborough the gloves forward of West Ham mortgage participant Krisztian Hegyi and was rewarded with an assured show, with the 26-year-old commanding his field, displaying good dealing with and looking out alert when wanted to come back out additional.
Robinson created the primary likelihood when he dispossessed Will Nightingale and ran away from the defender however he curled his shot previous the submit with solely Laidlaw to beat.
Ebiye had two good first-half probabilities which had been nicely arrange by wing-backs Ewan Wilson and Stephen O’Donnell. The ahead was denied by a point-blank cease from Laidlaw from the primary and utterly missed his tried header from the second.
Laidlaw tipped over a Dan Casey cross that was dipping beneath his bar at first of the second half and Motherwell continued to push ahead with their remaining ball letting them down on a number of events.
Oxborough had made a few easy first-half saves and made a extra spectacular one to push Ronan Hale’s curling free-kick previous the submit.
Each Stamatelopoulos and Ross Callachan had been handed debuts off the bench, the latter making his first look since struggling cruciate ligament injury 16 months in the past whereas enjoying with County.
The hosts misplaced a little bit of momentum, although, and former Motherwell striker Jordan White glanced a free header over the bar from Akil Wright’s cross, though he might need been offside.
Laidlaw maintained his clear sheet with an excellent one-handed cease to push Wilson’s highly effective 22-yard volley behind for a nook. The Motherwell wing-back had been rising in affect as his Premiership debut progressed.
Nightingale had an opportunity to win it from a late nook however fired nicely over the bar from 10 yards.
