Alexander angry as Steelmen relax and get thrashed
Motherwell boss Graham Alexander was frustrated by his players seeming to relax as they crashed to defeat at Kilmarnock.
The Fir Park men were going for three victories in a row, but, as they have done previously this season, then served up an uninspiring performance.
Although they are just about clear of any relegation worries, Alexander expects everyone to keep battling until the last minute of the campaign.
He said: “I keep getting asked if results will put us in a comfort zone, but we’re in a fight from now until the end of the season.
“We have to win as many points as possible just for our own pride.
“I don’t get that mentality of us relaxing. That’s what it felt like this time.
“You can’t go to Hibs and completely dominate the game, then come to the team at the bottom and get a result like this.
“It’s not the first time we’ve seen this. It happened a month ago against Hamilton.
“We’ve been beaten 4-1 twice by the team at the bottom of the table and that tells me there’s a problem.”
Going behind after just a minute set the tone for Motherwell’s showing.
Alexander added: “There was no aggression or commitment from us. We got back into it with a good response, but we weren’t good enough up until half-time.
“The goals weren’t particularly good, they weren’t ones we couldn’t do anything about.
“The second half was a continuation of the first, we weren’t good enough then either.”
Alexander explained why his players decided not to take the knee before kick-off.
They felt standing tall would deliver a more powerful anti-racism message.
He said: “It was a players’ decision and we spoke about it at the start of the week.
“I felt, out of unity, we should all do the same thing, so we were all on the same message.
“The players felt this was the best way to acknowledge the issues and the reaction to them.”
St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright got a bit hot under the collar at half-time when he spotted Motherwell’s chief executive officer Alan Burrows questioning the fourth official.
He said: “I have a lot of time for Alan Burrows, everybody does.
“But I don’t see why he is allowed access to the fourth official.
“It’s in the technical area, but he is not on the team sheet. So that’s what I said to the fourth official. The fact I didn’t get any answers is what made me more angry.”