Motherwell boss Stevie Hammell insists he doesn’t have a point to prove against Hearts on Sunday, but says his side will have to be clinical.
The Steelmen created 26 chances against their Edinburgh opponents the last time they were at Fir Park and lost 3-0, but Hammell says that just shows how clinical Hearts were that day.
Hammell says his own side will need to replicate that, if they are to emerge with points from Tynecastle.
He said: “I don’t feel that we have a point to prove against Hearts. We want to continue doing what we’re doing.
“Even that game, when you say we had 26 shots or whatever, if shows you how clinical Hearts will be if you give them the opportunity.
“We’re aware of what they’ve got, what their strengths are.
“We want to bring our game, our style to the game and cause them as many problems as we can.
“We will need to put in a very strong performance and be somewhere near our best to do that.
“It’s about being clinical and converting the chances when they come. Stuart McKinstry has stepped up recently, Sol [Sondre Solholm] has scored, there have been chances throughout the team.
“It’s important that the forward players, mostly, start to put some good numbers on the board, and it’s a collective, a team effort, the same as when we keep a clean sheet.”
Motherwell came through a bruising October with six points a 5-0 win at Ross County and a 1-0 triumph against Dundee United at Tannadice last weekend.
They also lost 2-1 at Celtic and 1-0 at Hibs, with Hammell saying their away from has been good, as they head for the capital.
He said: “It was a huge win on Saturday, it was a massive three points for us.
“The results before weren’t what we wanted, even if some of the performances were good.
“Our away from has been good. We’ve been strong away from home, put in some good performances and got some good results, and that will get tested again on Sunday.
“It’s a very tough venue, a good team that we’ll be up against again, and we’ll need to put in a similar performance, if not better, to come away with a positive result.
“You see their European game in midweek, where they’ve made a few changes but they’re still very, very strong.
“It shows you the strength and depth and level of squad they have. Regardless of who they change and who they bring in, they’re going to be strong.
“We’ll need to be at our best, we’ll need to be good in and out of possession, for sure.
“We need to be organised, as a staff we need to be good, the game-plan and how we approach it will need to be good.
“It will be a tough test but it’s one we’re looking forward to.”
Hammell says a scenario where they’re currently four points off third-placed Hibs is one he would have accepted at the start of the season.
Going into a run of three fixtures this week at Hearts, at home to Celtic on Wednesday, and away to St Johnstone, ahead of the World Cup break, Hammell hopes to improve that.
He said: “We’re approaching it one game at a time.
“We’re not at a level where we can say ‘OK, what’s happening after Hearts?’.
“We’re aware of what’s coming, but our full focus and everything we’ve got is how we perform our best against Hearts, and the midweek game will take care of itself after that.
“I think you want to go into the break as positively as you can.
“We’re looking at the league and seeing we’re four points away from third position, which is something at the start of the season that would have been a positive.
“If we can stay in and around that, if not better than where we are now, then the target is always to improve, how we can progress in the league.
“If we can get through three very tough games between now and the World Cup, we want to ber going into that as positively as possible, and then hopefully get a couple of boys some much-needed rest.”
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