Mark McGhee wants to see his Motherwell players make an early impression when they tackle St Mirren in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League today.
The Fir Park side sit second bottom and go into the match following four straight defeats, to the Old Firm, UEFA Cup opponents Nancy and newly promoted derby opponents Hamilton Academical.
McGhee believes they will start moving up the table however, if they can maintain the flashes of form they have shown this term throughout 90 minutes. "We're going to have to find the sort of performance that we've found later in games recently: 20 minutes at the end at Rangers, the second half of the Celtic game, half an hour at the end at Nancy and the second half when we went down to 10 men against Hamilton," he said.
"We have to find that from minute one, which is what we haven't been able to do in the past games, and I want us to come out of the traps fast. It is not rocket science."
McGhee will consider Thursday's UEFA Cup return against Nancy in making his team selection for the game against St Mirren - Stephen Craigan, the captain, and midfielder Stephen Hughes both have knocks and could be rested.
That will come as good news to Gus MacPherson, the St Mirren manager, who is eager to bounce back from his side's midweek cup defeat against Dunfermline.
He said: "We're looking for a reaction from the players. We've had a talk since that game and reminded the players that they've done a lot of good stuff so far this season, and it's about getting back to doing what they're good at."
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