Motherwell host Ross County in an all important league clash at Fir Park tomorrow afternoon.
And for Mark McGhee’s side, the match comes with added importance after the 3-0 home defeat on Wednesday night.
The Steelmen are in need of three points to put an end to their run of matches without a win, but manager Mark McGhee is confident and determined in equal measure, that his team will put things right.
He said:“I actually think that up until that second half in the Inverness game our form has been good in terms of performances, just results haven’t been.
“It’s only a couple of weeks ago that had we beaten Hearts we could have gone second and that’s the nature of this league, so from all that perspective – points, league position and stuff – I think it’s all irrelevant at the moment. We’ve got 23 games to get ourselves in to the top six.”
He added: “As far as the other night goes, my concern is more or less always about performance cause you can actually play really well and get beat, so the performance is the overriding thing.
“The second half performance, certainly in the last half hour after we conceded the first goal was poor.”
Looking forward, the boss is hopeful of bouncing back to winning ways and admits the squad will be able to click in to gear soon.
[pullquote]We’re determined to put that right and play well for an entire 90 minutes, which is where we went wrong the other night.[/pullquote]
He said: “We’ve got a mixture here of very good experience, ability and also of good, energetic young players.
“We’ve got another home game against a team who are in the same area as ourselves and they’ll have watched us against Inverness the other night and will perhaps fancy their chances tomorrow.”
He added: “We’re determined to put that right and play well for an entire 90 minutes, which is where we went wrong the other night.”
The Staggies travel down to Fir Park just one point ahead of the Steelmen having played an extra game.
Motherwell will be without the injured Carl McHugh and Joe Chalmers, while skipper Keith Lasley has until tomorrow morning to prove his fitness after injuring his toe.
Louis Moult is one of the top scorers in the top flight and is a hugely important player in the Motherwell dressing room.
However, the striker is without a goal in his last four matches, which is making the 24-yearold hungry and excited for Saturday.
‘Well fans will be looking on with intent to see their top scorer in action, hopeful of him netting his sixth league goal of the season.
The striker said: “I think it’s a blessing in disguise that we have a match coming up so quickly.
“It feels like this season has been stop/start and personally I was injured at the start then we’ve had a game, then a weekend off with international breaks and then what happened with the Aberdeen game another weekend off too.”
He added: “I’m really excited that we have a game on Saturday, so soon after Wednesday.”
With December offering the striker a number of games in quick succession, this is something that Moult admits he prefers.
He said: “I certainly prefer it, but I’m used to it from my time down south where games came thick and fast.
“It is nice to get a break once in a while but when you get a chunk of games together and a run of goals together it does help.”
The 24-year-old also hopes he can grab a goal soon after a run of games without finding the net.
He said: “Things started with my goal against Ross County and then the four against Hamilton.”
He added: “As unbelievable as that was we’ve had some difficult games after that and it’s been stop/start like I said, but hopefully we can get some rhythm going now and get something from the game on Saturday.”
Ross County enjoyed a solid start to the 2016/17 season, after winning two of their opening four games, but since Jim McIntyre’s side drew 1-1 with the Steelmen back at the start of September, their form has dropped off.
The Staggies are certainly capable, and will be more than hungry, to pick up points at Fir Park tomorrow.
Currently sitting on 10 points and one spot ahead of the Steelmen, the northerners will be hungry to follow up on last season’s terrific top six finish.
It makes for an interesting encounter tomorrow afternoon, with both sides sharing the same aspirations of a top-half spot meaning there is added emphasis on the outcome in Lanarkshire.
When McGhee’s men travelled north to Dingwall in the fifth game of the Ladbrokes Premiership season, the two sides couldn’t be separated as Louis Moult cancelled out Liam Boyce’s opener.
Before the season started, it was a big summer for the Staggies who looked to follow up on their brilliant season, highlighted by their League Cup triumph against Hibs at Hampden back in March.
One of the main threats to the Steelmen is Northern Irish striker Liam Boyce, who opened the scoring earlier in the season in the 1-1 draw at the Global Energy Stadium.
Ross County have scored eight goals in the league this season, and Boyce has been involved in seven of them, scoring six and assisting once.
At just 25-years of age, keeping hold of Boyce was a shrewd bit of business from the Staggies over the summer, after the forward scored 15 goals and provided 7 assists in the Premiership last season.
If he keeps going at this rate, he’ll have improved on that tally before Christmas, making him an obvious threat to the Steelmen this afternoon.
Another threat the Staggies have in their side is international star Chris Burke, who at 32-years-old is a great coup for the club after penning a deal as a free agent late in September.
Having only played 50 minutes of action for his new club, the fact he is already off the mark in front of goal shows signs of the midfielder’s capabilities.
And what a crucial goal it was from the Scot too, coming off the bench to draw Ross County level in the 95th minute away to Partick Thistle.
They are now without a victory in eight matches after their mid-week loss against Celtic, but Burke’s injury-time strike last weekend at least put an end to their goalless streak which was minutes away from being five matches.
The absence of striker Liam Boyce through injury certainly hurt the Staggies and McIntyre will be happy to see his star man on the way back to full fitness.
The 4-0 scoreline on Wednesday flattered Celtic somewhat, due to the fact they scored three goals in the last eight minutes of the match.
With both sides hungry to get back to winning ways tonight, this afternoon’s match makes for an interesting clash.