Motherwell started the new year with a narrow defeat to Hearts, as boss Stuart Kettlewell admitted his side ‘weren’t at the races.’
And their woes were compounded after the Fir Park gaffer confirmed star man Lennon Miller will miss up to two months through injury.
The Jambos took an early lead through Musa Drammeh and dominated most of the match but were unable to add to their advantage and kill the game off.
Motherwell almost grabbed a leveller with Craig Gordon called upon to make two excellent saves to deny Well pair Moses Ebiye and Jack Vale in the dying moments.
The Steelmen remain sixth in the table, five points off the top four.
“The scoreline flattered us,” Kettlewell said. “I just didn’t think we were at the races from the first minute. It probably took us 81 minutes to make one pass with penetration and then the pitch started to open up, and that’s never going to be enough when you come here.
“The fact that we made three changes at half-time, the fact that we had four systems that we tried to deploy throughout the day will indicate to you that I wasn’t happy with what I was seeing, and that’s not been like us.
“We’re not going to paper over the cracks by saying that Craig Gordon makes two absolutely brilliant stops to keep us out and thinking that we should have had a draw because we shouldn’t have. Hearts should have been out of sight.”
Meanwhile, the extent of Lennon Miller’s injruy was conformed after he was substituted in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Rangers, following a challenge on Oscar Cortes.
Kettlewell said: “Lennon’s going to be longer than a month. He’s got a hairline fracture in his ankle which is going to keep him out for an extended period of time.
“He’s done this twice now. With Lennon being Lennon he tried to stay on. Last season he had a fracture in his patella but tried to finish the game.
“But in getting that yellow card it looks like he’s sustained a pretty significant injury which is going to keep him out somewhere around six to eight weeks.”