St Mirren upturn 'no coincidence', says Jim Goodwin after 1-0 win at Motherwell

Jim Goodwin says St Mirren's upturn in form is "no coincidence", given he now has a fully fit squad available.

Saturday's 1-0 win away to Motherwell, courtesy of Jamie McGrath's goal, extended the Buddies' unbeaten run in the league to four games.

It also moved the Paisley side off the bottom of the Scottish Premiership up to 10th.

"They're in a good place at the moment. I'm delighted that we're on the run that we're on," said Goodwin.

"It's no coincidence to me that we've got a fully fit and healthy squad now to choose from and we're starting to get the results off the back of it."

Motherwell remain fifth but are now 10 points behind Aberdeen and could drop to sixth if Dundee United win their Sunday fixture against Rangers. St Mirren move up to 10th by overtaking Ross County and Hamilton Academical.

• Reaction & as it happened

The visitors sounded an early warning of how they might hurt Motherwell when Iklay Durmus crossed from the left for Jon Obika to turn just wide.

At the other end, Tony Watt looped a header over and Callum Lang could not keep his effort down.

The opening goal came when Ethan Erhahon released Obika in the inside left channel and though his shot was saved, McGrath was on hand to fire into the empty net as the home defence was slow to react.

More St Mirren pressure came down the left with former Motherwell right-back Richard Tait testing Jordan Archer with a volley and Dylan Connolly heading a Durmus cross wide.

Alnwick had to deal with a Bevis Mugabi header and a Watt shot from wide on the right before the break and a Watt header after it.

Devante Cole could not get enough purchase on his shot when sent through and fellow Motherwell substitute Liam Polworth headed over at a corner moments later.

After Mark O'Hara had gone off injured to be replaced by Ricki Lamie for Well, Polworth struck from 20 yards and again Alnwick was equal to it, and Liam Grimshaw also could not get the better of the Englishman.

Barry Maguire came closest to a late leveller for Motherwell, his left-foot strike beaten out and collected by Alnwick.

Man of the match - Richard Tait

Tait (right) was effective in defence and attack before making way for Brandon Mason late on

What did we learn?

With Long, Lang and Watt and later Cole and Jake Hastie, Motherwell had plenty of attacking options and movement but their final ball too often let them down.

However, it was the static nature of their defending that ultimately cost them, with McGrath showing all the initiative to score the winning goal.

St Mirren are now reaping the benefits of a settled side with manager Jim Goodwin able to name an unchanged starting XI for the trip to fir Park.

Alnwick and the back four are giving their attacking colleagues the confidence to go and express themselves with Erhahon and McGrath playing particularly well at the moment.

What did they say?

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson: "It's just not happening for us at the moment, no matter how well we play. The final decisions, the final ball, the final touch just isn't happening.

"We had 19 shots, nine on target. I think they had one opportunity and scored. There's a wee bit of lack of confidence in the forward areas and we have to stick by them. I'll stick by them."

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin: "Motherwell probably over the whole piece will be disappointed not to have taken something from the game. We've been in their shoes plenty of times this season.

"I'm delighted for the players, I'm delighted for the staff. It was a real performance about team spirit and togetherness. We had real quality in the first half. Second half was about grit and determination really just to get the job done."

What's next?

Motherwell travel to face Rangers in the Premiership next Saturday. St Mirren's next game is also against the Ibrox side in Wednesday's League Cup quarter-final in Paisley.