Motherwell boss Steven Hammell has told his stars to head into the World Cup break on a high by beating St Johnstone.
With just two points separating third-placed Aberdeen with St Mirren in eighth, Hammell knows a win in Perth would make a massive difference to his side’s placing.
And he’s looking at a post-break run of fixtures that he feels are winnable, with St Mirren, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Hibs and Ross County in there, alongside a trip to Rangers on December 28.
Hammell said: “The game at St Johnstone is huge for a number of reasons.
“The results and the points we’ve accumulated in the last few weeks haven’t been exactly what we wanted.
“It’s a chance to go into the break – a much-needed break for us just now – and have a little bit of a re-set and a think about things.
“But yeah, it’s important that we go there and be as strong as we can.
“They’re a tough team, they can make the game difficult for you, but they’ve also got individual talent within their squad, within their team.
“Just one last push before the window. It’s another very tough game, but it’s a massive game for us and it’s important that we go into the break as positively as we can.”
Hammell added: “We’ve played everyone and I don’t think there’s a lot in it at all, outwith the teams in the top two.
“There’s still not a lot in the league; a couple of wins, a couple of momentum swings, and two or three results and you’re back where you want to be.
“There will be momentum swings, teams that have a little bit of form. Our fixtures have been very difficult recently, and after the break there’s a run of fixtures that are more appealing to us in terms of the points that we can gather during that.”
Hammell has already said the World Cup break will do a lot of good, in terms of getting injured players back fit, but he says they will also be working hard during the hiatus, which runs from the end of the clash at St Johnstone until St Mirren visit on December 17.
There are things we can do better, there are things we can improve,” he said.
“We’ll use absolutely every minute of the break – myself personally – to see how we can improve things here.
“There are a lot of good things, a lot of players playing at a decent level, but that’s an everyday process of how we get better.
“I give absolutely everything to what we’re doing here. I believe in the work we’re doing, and the effort and support we’ve got.
“The players have given us a lot, we’ve asked a lot of them and they’ve stood up to that.”
Hammell says recruitment in January is likely to be important, and is an ongoing concern.
He said: “The work we do in January is going to be massive for us, I think that’s clear, it’s obvious. It’s a constant process, that’s not something we set aside a certain spot for.
“We were in here until late last night, looking at potential January or summer recruitment, what we can do, what we can’t do, and that’s a constant process, something we look at every single day,
“But it’s clear that what we do in January is going to be huge for us.”
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