Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell admitted that his side quickly need to arrest their current slump in form after the Steelmen lost 1-0 to Kilmarnock to fall to a sixth defeat in seven matches.
Innes Cameron’s goal early in the second half proved decisive and the hosts could have extended their lead, while Well failed to create many chances of note.
Motherwell took 10 points from the first four matches but they have taken only one point since as they have slid down to eighth in the league.
Kettlewell said: “It’s always frustrating to lose any game but I understand that’s the job and everyone points to the fact that we’ve got one point in seven games.
“It’s not good enough for a club like Motherwell. I understand that, I get that and I harbour that blame and that frustration and the anger that will undoubtedly come off the back of that.
“We’re working incredibly hard to try and turn that corner. We’re trying to come up with different solutions. We’re trying to tweak and change things where we possibly can.
“I can assure you that we’re putting in the hours to see if we can try and rectify that.
“I’ve just said to the guys there – I’m not questioning anybody’s application. I’m not questioning that anybody’s not putting their body on the line.
“Potentially we have what looks like two broken noses and a fractured cheekbone from three guys on the pitch.
“I get the nature of the job, I get people’s frustrations, I get people’s anger. I can assure you when I go home tonight I don’t speak to the family and I keep my head down but we’re back in tomorrow with the players.
“I’m never going to shirk that responsibility. It’s what I want to do, it’s what I want to be. I’m quite happy to be the guy who gets shot at when it’s not great but equal to that, there’s been praise for us as a football club in the past eight or nine months and, very simple, you have to take the rough with the smooth.”
Derek McInnes, meanwhile, was full of praise for substitute Cameron, after the striker’s first league goal of the season secured Killie’s third straight home win.
Cameron, who came on in the 16th minute after captain Kyle Vassell suffered a dead leg, rifled home the winner four minutes after half-time after a composed lay off by the impressive David Watson.
McInnes said: “The goal took a bit longer to come than we’d have liked.
“But I don’t think anyone would deny we were the better team and deserved it. I’m really pleased for big Innes (Cameron).
“When Kyle went down, we had a decision to make. I spoke to my staff – one in the stand and two next to me.
“Between the four of us, it was two apiece in terms of going with Innes or Andy Dallas. But I just had a feeling with Innes. He scored a couple of brilliant goals in training on Friday.
“He was great when he came on. He took his goal really well and led the line for us. When he’s like that and in that sort of mood, he’s a real handful.
“He got the goal to get the win for us – and it was no less than we deserved.”
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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