Chris Cadden is refusing to press the panic button after Motherwell’s wretched home league record continued with a sickening loss to St Johnstone.

The Steelmen were on course for at least a share of the spoils in a fairly grisly battle of attrition at Fir Park until Jason Kerr delivered a savage late blow with an injury-time header at the back post which plundered all three points for the Perth men.

Motherwell, who sit down in 10th spot in the league table, have yet to record a victory in their own backyard this season but Cadden ins trying to remain calm.

The 22-year-old spurned a good chance of his own during the weekend tussle while Well were also left to reflect on what might have been as Curtis Main blasted a fine opportunity over the bar too.

That profligacy cost the hosts dear as St Johnstone conjured a dramatic and decisive late show but Cadden is confident Motherwell can turn their fortunes around.

He said: “It’s time for the boys to stand up but we’ve got a great group and we’re really behind the gaffer. We played well in the first half but in football sometimes things don’t go your way.

“I’d be more worried if we weren’t putting performances in so we just need to stick in and knuckle down and I know the boys will do that.

“We missed our chances and they took theirs. We’ve got a good, honest, hard working group so we’ll be fine. The problem is in both goal mouths - we’re conceding more than last season and not scoring as many.

“It’s only October but it’s time to stand up, myself included, and I can’t wait to get back out there and stop this run because it’s not nice.

“The recruitment staff have done well and brought in good quality players and we don’t get credit for some of the stuff we play.”

It wasn’t just Tommy Wright who was giving a contented purr after his St Johnstone team grabbed the points. Zander Clark’s pet cat was probably a feline in fine fettle too. “I have got a cat and she was close to getting kicked after the Celtic game,” said the St Johnstone goalkeeper with a smile as he reflected on that torrid 6-0 trouncing by the Scottish champions the week before the domestic league ceased for the international break.

Having such a long time to dwell on a hefty horsing is never ideal but Clark and his St Johnstone team-mates rolled up their sleeves and stood firm against Motherwell burly approach to chisel out a hard-earned win.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks for us,” added Clark of the days the followed that sobering reversal to Celtic. “It seems like forever since we played Celtic. We had the international break and there was more time than we wanted to think about the heavy defeat. We’ve been hurting but this was the perfect opportunity to go out and put things right. We are only a point behind Aberdeen now. It’s a tight league and I think the standard is up this season. We just need to keep plugging away and if it’s going to be a battle then we are more than happy to do that.”