Motherwell boss Mark McGhee: we can't count on play-offs to save us again

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee warned his players that this season's play-offs would be a different story from their emphatic triumph of last year after they slipped into 11th place in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Kilmarnock leapfrogged Motherwell with a 2-0 win at Fir Park courtesy of two goals in five minutes just before the hour mark from Greg Kiltie and Craig Slater.

Motherwell had been on the cusp of the top six after a five-match unbeaten run around Christmas but they have now taken one point from five games.

Motherwell thrashed Rangers 6-1 in last season's play-offs but McGhee was perturbed to see his side slip into the danger zone.

"I absolutely assure you it concerns me because I think it's a different season this season,'' he said.

"I saw the play-offs last year and I saw Rangers here but I think the Rangers team or the Hibs team or the Falkirk team that you will play this year are a totally different thing altogether.

"Anybody that ends up in the play-offs has got a difficult task to stay up, so the best way of avoiding that is to not be in the play-offs. We have a lot of work to do before now and the end of the season to avoid the play-offs.''

Motherwell might have even bigger concerns if they fail to improve on Saturday's showing when they face bottom club Dundee United on Tuesday.

McGhee employed four attacking midfielders in between sitting midfielder Morgaro Gomis and striker Scott McDonald but they lacked any creativity in the first half as Connor Ripley kept them in the game with a string of decent saves.

The manager admitted his players looked "stifled'' by the formation and he brought on top goalscorer Louis Moult at half-time to switch to a 4-4-2.

But their subsequent improvement was undone within 10 minutes by slack marking as Kiltie slid in to convert Steven Smith's deep cross. And Slater soon broke ahead of the Motherwell midfield as he latched on to Kiltie's pass before running to the edge of the box and drilling home.

There was a distinct lack of belief on and off the park that Motherwell could get back into the game and McGhee admits the confidence factor needs to be addressed before the Tannadice encounter.

"They haven't been affected and I don't even think that performance was about a lack of confidence, but the danger is now they could suffer from a lack of confidence,'' he said.

"The focus has to be making sure we find a rationale for them to go to Dundee United and believe they can win the game.''

Killie have rediscovered their belief under caretaker boss Lee McCulloch and they can go into Tuesday's William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round replay against Rangers with the boost of being out of the bottom two.

Defender Conrad Balatoni said: "We're out but we know teams have got games in hand on us so it's down to them if they climb above us again.

"If we play like that for the majority of the games from now until the end of the season I'm sure that we'll be putting points on board and can drag ourselves away from the bottom two sooner rather than later.

"Tuesday is away from the league and we've got no pressure against Rangers. Everyone expects Rangers to go out and beat anyone. We're going to enjoy the occasion hopefully and if we play like that, show hard work and desire, we can maybe cause what we think would be a great victory.''

Killie caused Motherwell all sorts of problems with their movement but Balatoni revealed there was nothing complicated about McCulloch and assistant Peter Leven's approach.

"We've been doing really hard training and I think that's vital in the situation we're in,'' he said. "You've got to train as hard as you play.

"They had a chat with a few of the boys when they came in and a few of the boys said everyone can work harder. They have taken that on board in training and got us back to a hard-to-beat mentality.''