Latest news with #TawandaMaswanhise
BBC News
16-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Can Sparrow end debut season as Well's top scorer?
Wing-back Tom Sparrow is eyeing a goal in Dingwall on Sunday to end his debut season with Motherwell as the club's top scorer. The 22-year-old Welshman is tied on six goals for the campaign with midfielder Callum Slattery and forward Tawanda to Sunday's season-ending game at Ross County, Sparrow is well award Slattery "might have something to say about" his attempts to outdo him in the scoring added: "We are both on six but we will see what happens in Dingwall. But that would be nice."He will tell you that he's played a lot less games than me. I will tell you that he plays higher up the pitch than me but he's been on fire so if he finishes top then there will be no complaints from me."It's not something I go into games massively thinking about. My position is more about defending first and foremost and then getting up and supporting play and getting in and around when I can."But as the season has gone on, I have felt more confident that I can contribute in that and it's definitely something I want to take into next season."Instructions from recently-appointed manager Michael Wimmer, who took charge in February, have helped the goals goal for Sparrow, who has three in nine games."Quite early on he noticed that I hang a bit wider in build-up play and goals are scored at the back post and getting in nice and narrow," he said."It's something we spoke about and it's worked a couple of times, and I had another couple of chances where I probably should have scored in that position. So I will keep that going."
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Can Michael Wimmer bring the best out of Motherwell star Tawanda Maswanhise?
This is an excerpt from this week's McGarry on Motherwell, a free Motherwell newsletter written by Graeme McGarry that goes out every Thursday at 6pm. To sign up, click The celebration from Tawanda Maswanhise after he had risen like a salmon to bullet home his late header at Dens Park on Saturday was perhaps only surpassed by that of the McGarry family, as me and my boys were a pictured in various sports pages making a right old spectacle of ourselves. Ach, I suppose it wasn't my most embarrassing contribution ever to Scottish football journalism. Anyway, the cathartic roars from the Zimbabwean told a story deeper than the simple value of the goal in securing the three points for the 10 men of Motherwell, a strike that ensured Premiership football will be played at Fir Park for the 41st consecutive season. Maswanhise's situation at the club since the arrival of Michael Wimmer has been an intriguing one, and has angered seemingly thousands of his countrymen, who are about ready to launch the German over the Victoria Falls if the social media replies to his recent starting XIs are anything to go by. (Image: Craig Foy - SNS Group) It could just be though that Wimmer's management of the 22-year-old will get the best out of him in the long run. It was interesting that from early on in the game at Dundee, Wimmer was in deep conversation with Maswanhise at the side of the pitch, pointing out areas of the park where he presumably had identified there was space for him to come on and exploit. Having switched to a back four during the game to great effect the previous week against St Johnstone, it was something of a surprise to see Wimmer revert to the three from the start at Dens Park. Read more: Does a return of King Louis Moult to Motherwell make sense? What can Motherwell expect from new recruit Jordan McGhee? Dundee 1 Motherwell 2: Maswanhise header seals top-flight survival But he clearly didn't like what he was seeing from his men in the first half, and his in-depth chats with Maswanhise were a sign that he was ready to shake things up at the interval once again. What also fascinated me as a I tried in vain to hold together a rapidly disintegrating macaroni pie was that after a minute or two of the half time whistle, Wimmer and assistant manager Ahmet Koc appeared back in the dugout, having presumably said their piece and left the players to sort it out amongst themselves. It worked, with Motherwell putting on a vastly improved performance and being thoroughly deserving of their win, even after going down to 10 men and benefitting from VAR, erm, correctly ruling an earlier Dundee goal out for offside. Incidentally, had it not been against Motherwell, then of course I don't like to see the technology butting in and ruling out spectacular strikes like the second one from Antonio Portales. But Clark Robertson was offside, and motioned towards the ball. The refereeing team would have been savaged by their superiors had they not followed the rules, which aren't rendered null and void just because someone has subsequently rattled in a thunderb******. Anyway, I digress. The point I want to make here is that not only did the team look fitter and stronger than they have in some time, perhaps down to the more intensive training that Wimmer has spoken of implementing, but Maswanhise as an individual looked hungrier and more motivated than he has of late too. There is no doubting his talent. I spoke to him for this newsletter back in January, not long after he had scored a brilliant goal against Rangers in the 2-2 draw at Fir Park, and he also seems to be a lovely lad. But his goal against Dundee was just his second since that strike against Rangers in late December. He netted against Aberdeen the following week, then failed to find the net in 12 appearances. What's more, since Wimmer's arrival, he has started just two matches. Granted, there was a bit of disruption as he travelled to represent his country during that spell, and he has had the odd niggle, but he was seemingly dropping down the pecking order under Wimmer, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that the manager may have been making a point to his player. Wimmer would never explicitly name individuals, but when I met him for a one-to-one a few weeks back, he had spoken in a general sense about the need for his players to work hard every day if they wanted to play in his side. When I gently pushed him on who he may be referring to, he said simply 'look at the teamsheet'. When Wimmer spoke about Maswanhise after the win at the weekend, he said: 'In the last couple of weeks he has worked much better in training. 'I think of how important JT could be for the team, and how much quality he has, as he showed today. (Image: Craig Foy - SNS Group) 'Hopefully the penny has dropped, and this is now our JT, and we will have a lot of fun with him.' One can only hope. Given the lack of attacking creativity that has been evident within the side for spells this season, and the imminent departure of Lennon Miller, Maswanhise could be a key player going into next term. If he wants to get that move back to the top level that he spoke about in this newsletter previously, then he is going to have to work for it. As Wimmer has now made clear to him, to even get into his Motherwell team, talent alone will not be enough. Hopefully, both the player and the team can reap the benefits of the way that his manager has handled him from this point on. And the presence of my daft mug will be restricted to my byline photo.
BBC News
05-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Well duo make TOTW
Ten-man Motherwell secured their Scottish Premiership status for next season with a fine win over Dundee at Dens Park and as such, two Steelmen have made my team of the the back, Dan Casey was committed as always, strong in the tackle and stout in defence. He was a threat to the opposition goal as Tawanda Maswanhise was an even greater threat. He was direct, fast and a real weapon for Michael Wimmer's side. The Zimbabwe international again underlined his importance to Motherwell with the match-winning goal that keeps them in the top flight.
BBC News
04-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Motherwell 'had belief' winner was coming
Tawanda Maswanhise insisted Motherwell "had the belief" they would find a winner against Dundee, before he nodded home the goal that secured their Premiership Wimmer's side went behind thanks to an Antonio Portales screamer, and they were nearly 2-0 down before another was ruled out."The boys showed a lot of fight and that's what I really love about this team, this squad actually," Maswanhise said. "I'm really happy for the three points and the safety."I feel like we still had the belief because we had the ball with most of the game. I'm thinking, listen, if we still have the ball, we're going to create something. Luckily we did."The Zimbabwe international came off the bench to make his mark, rising at the back post to power a header into the top corner."[The manager told me] make sure you're running behind, push them back and go and get yourself a goal, young man."I want to get back into that playing feeling, playing week in, week out. Even though we're safe, I do want to play for this football club and I'm really happy for the goal I scored securing their survival, Maswanhise insisted there will be no room for complacency."There's always going to be pressure in games and that's what you need if you want to be at your best," the striker said. "But obviously, most of the pressure has been taken off after today and I'm really happy for the boys and myself."I feel like it's always been the same, even though we finished in the bottom six. The main focus is always to get three points every game."
Daily Record
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Dundee 1 Motherwell 2: Ten-man Steelmen secure Premiership safety with late winner
Tawanda Maswanhise scored in stoppage time to grab a crucial victory for the visitors Tawanda Maswanhise headed a stoppage-time winner as 10-man Motherwell secured Premiership safety with a 2-1 victory at Dundee. The substitute sealed a second-half comeback despite Johnny Koutroumbis receiving a VAR-assisted red card in the 80th minute. Dundee had taken a half-time lead through a brilliant strike from Antonio Portales, who soon had a second goal disallowed. But Tom Sparrow levelled with Motherwell's first shot on target in the 59th minute and the visitors showed ambition after going down to 10 men. They came close on several occasions before Maswanhise rose to head Dom Thompson's back-post cross into the top corner in the first minute of time added on. The win moved the Steelmen 10 points above second-bottom Ross County with three games left while Dundee remain in a precarious position, two points ahead of the Staggies. Aston Oxborough was back in the Motherwell goal for the first time since breaking a bone in his hand in early January and he made his mark early on with an excellent stop from Oluwaseun Adewumi before getting up to save Ziyad Larkeche's follow-up. The goalkeeper then pushed away Joe Shaughnessy's header but he was motionless as Portales volleyed into the top corner from 16 yards in the 31st minute after a long throw. It was the Mexican defender's first league goal of the season and he looked like he had doubled his tally after another long throw. Portales hit an equally-impressive strike into the same part of the net with his left foot but the goal was disallowed by the VAR team for offside against Clark Robertson in the build-up. Motherwell were lacking a cutting edge and Callum Slattery failed to hit the target from their only two chances of note in the first half, hitting the first over the bar and being tackled by Shaughnessy as he weighed up a shot. Well boss Michael Wimmer brought on Maswanhise at the interval but there was little immediate improvement in the visitors' threat and Oxborough saved from Lyall Cameron. But Motherwell levelled as Sparrow got his second goal in as many games. Lennon Miller's run into the box made the difference and Sparrow steered the ball into the roof of the net when the ball broke. Josh Mulligan fired over from the edge of the Motherwell box and Cameron turned the ball just past his own goal following Maswanhise's square ball as both sides looked for a winner. The game seemed to have tipped in Dundee's favour when referee Kevin Clancy was called to the monitor by video assistant Callum Scott to re-examine a late tackle from Koutroumbis on Larkeche. Clancy had not awarded a free-kick but he booked the Australian before then upgrading the punishment to a red after studying the footage. Despite the numerical disadvantage, Motherwell looked the more threatening side in the closing stages. Substitute Ewan Wilson had a shot turned past the post by Trevor Carson and Dan Casey headed off the bar from the resulting corner. Maswanhise then stunned the home support and could have added to Motherwell's lead on the counter-attack before being denied by Carson and seeing Casey knock the rebound wide with the goal gaping.
