Motherwell were beaten 1-0 by Nancy in France on Thursday night in a tricky encounter. Nancy controlled the whole game from start start to finish.

I think Motherwell did the right thing in playing a defensive game because if we had attacked we would have conceded far more goals, like we did against Celtic the previous weekend.

As I said in my pevious article, Bob Malcolm and Stephen Craigan were very important to us, but I think that Stephen Hughes was a little disapointing against Nancy and has played far better in the past for the Well.

Our hero in France, though, wasn't your usual striker or midfielder but goalkeeper Graeme Smith, who was our star man. He pulled off one magnificent save midway through the second half after a stunning strike from one of Nancy's midfielders seemed to be curling into the top corner.  Smith acrobatically dived and finger-tipped it on to the bar and it went out for a corner.

He has had a bit a of criticism from Motherwell fans but I think that was the save of the season already. He also produced a great save from a penalty, a shot destined for the bottom corner until Smith stretched as far as he could and tipped it wide. This proved to be vital as it could have been the end of Motherwell's journey after such a short time.

Nancy's goal came just before half-time. An excellent cross was driven in the air and beautifully headed into the bottom corner, leaving Smith with no chance at all.