McCall not worried by drought

Motherwell manager Stuart McCall has been putting his players through numerous finishing drills but is not worried by their goal drought.

Motherwell have gone four games without a goal in a run that has seen them go from top of the SPL to eighth place ahead of their visit to St Johnstone.

But McCall remains convinced they will turn around their form.

"I would be worried if we weren't creating," McCall said. "We had three or four good opportunities against Hibs.

"We have got to keep putting ourselves in those positions and have the confidence to take them.

"We have good finishers in the club but we do need people to start chipping in with goals.

"We have worked on different types of finishing, crosses from wide, shots from the edge of the box, everything.

"The good things is we have players who create chances. We have pace and trickery, we just need to be clinical when that chance comes along.

"We might only get one, lots of games have been won by one shot on target. As long as we score one goal more than them, I'll be happy."

Motherwell did have the ball over the line in their latest defeat, a 4-0 reverse against Hibernian, but the officials failed to give the goal after Ben Williams scooped out Stevie Hammell's header from his goal.

Hibs also benefited from two controversial penalties before their injury-time fourth and McCall is refusing to panic after previous defeats by Rangers, Celtic and Hearts.

"Last Friday was a freak game, everything that could go wrong did go wrong," he said.

"But it's been a long week. As a manager you question yourself and what you can do better and different.

"It's about knuckling down, nobody feeling sorry for themselves, and it's time for strong minds and strong bodies.

"We go to a tough place tomorrow, St Johnstone have been on a terrific run.

"They are probably as well equipped to challenge Aberdeen for second with the strength of the squad, and the quality and experience.

"I think they will do well this season. It's always a tough place to go but we have had good results there in the past and high-scoring games against them."

Motherwell have tended to rely on Michael Higdon to put the ball in the net this season - his seven goal-tally is one higher than the rest of his team-mates put together.

Jamie Murphy has netted two, both against Kilmarnock when he played just off the front, but he feels he can also chip in from his usual wide position.

"Wherever the manager plays me, I feel like I have always got a chance to score," Murphy said.

"It's obviously different playing up front when you have more chances and through on goal a lot more.

"But it's a challenge and something I look forward to.

"You want to score from different positions and show other people that you're a good player."