St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright says his side will have to address their away form if they want to fulfil their aim of a top-six finish.
A 4-0 defeat at the hands of Motherwell leaves Saints still with just one league win on their travels this season and means that Hibs could go above the Perth club into the top half if they win tonight’s Edinburgh derby.
It was a disappointing outing to Fir Park for Saints’ first game of 2014, and Wright could be forgiven for being frustrated at seeing several chances go abegging during the 90 minutes.
The home side claimed the three points thanks to goals from John Sutton, Iain Vigurs, Lionel Ainsworth and James McFadden.
“There’s been an inconsistency to us this season and our away form has not been as good as it has been in previous seasons,” Wright said.
“Maybe we are trying to play too open away from home, but with the squad of players that we have got I think that’s the only way we can play and (we’ll) keep playing that way. But that’s one area we need to improve if we want to stay in the top six.
“It was a strange game at times because it could have been 4-3 at half-time. We didn’t start the game well, which I think was key, and it let them get a really good foothold in the game with the tempo that they played at.
“After 10 or 15 minutes we settled down and passed it alright, and created enough chances away from home in the first half to be level at half-time. But we did contribute to our own downfall.
“All the goals were disappointing from our point of view ill discipline, not dealing with one versus ones and giving away soft free kicks to a team that have good delivery.
“So obviously we’re disappointed particularly after Sunday’s performance. We’ve had that away from home a few times this season.
“We scored three at St Mirren and lost four, and it could have been 6-4 to Motherwell today because I did think they had a lot of chances.”
Wright added: “Motherwell were good and I think we did contribute to the game going forward but in both boxes for the amount of chances we had we should take some of them.
“And at the other end I think as a team we should be defending better.”
Home boss Stuart McCall was understandably delighted with the emphatic scoreline.
“For long enough we keep reverting back to last season and the players we have lost but I thought second half we were probably as good as we’ve been,” he said.
“I thought the football was terrific and we created some fantastic chances, bearing in mind it’s against a side who don’t lose a lot of goals and the way they’ve performed of late.
“Your main aim is always to win a game and we’ve done it in scrappy ways before but I thought it was the perfect way to start the New Year.”