Steven Hammell snubs media duties as Motherwell manager on the brink after Raith defeat

Fans erected a banner at Fir Park last week pleading for their side to ‘show some passion for the badge on your shirt’.

Steven Hammell ducked out of media duties with his job hanging by a thread after a cup calamity in Kirkcaldy ended with brutal rounds of ‘sacked in the morning’ ringing round Stark’s Park.

Motherwell - without a league win since October - are in freefall after a 3-1 Scottish Cup exit added to their woe and even the former skipper’s legend status at the club might not be enough to save him if the large travelling support’s fury was anything to go by. Fans erected a banner at Fir Park last week pleading for their side to ‘show some passion for the badge on your shirt’.

But Raith were faster, harder and more clinical in the first half despite a lung-busting 120 minutes against Dundee just three days earlier and led 2-0 through Jamie Gullan and Sam Stanton. Well rallied after the break and Kevin Van Veen’s 50th minute strike looked to have turned the tide.

But Isma Goncalves - signed on loan from Livingston only hours before kick off - smashed home a late clincher to sink Well’s hopes on the banks of the Forth.

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