'A joy to work with': Stuart Kettlewell hails attitude of match-winner Tony Watt

Stuart Kettlewell praised Tony Watt for his attitude and effort after the striker netted his first goal of the season in Motherwell’s 1-0 win over St Mirren.

The on-loan Dundee United forward struck four minutes into stoppage time to settle a competitive match played in difficult conditions.

Motherwell’s goals have been shared around the team this season after losing last year’s top scorer Theo Bair to Auxerre in the summer.

And Kettlewell revealed Watt had remained a positive influence around the club even when the 30-year-old was not playing regularly or scoring.

The Well boss said: “You lose your 15-goal striker from last season so you’re going to be dependent on goals coming from different areas and quality coming from different areas.

“So I’m delighted for Tony, in his second spell back at the football club. He’s been first class since he came into the building.

“At times, he’s had the disappointment of not playing but his character and his personality have never changed.

“He’s been a joy for me to work with and I think his last two performances have earned him that goal.

“I thought he was a handful again when we got him in the game and I felt that on Wednesday (against Dundee) as well. He starts to look that wee bit sharper with more minutes in his legs and more time on the pitch so I’m over the moon for him.”

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson was frustrated at his team’s failure to take their chances as they lost their second match on the spin.

But he warned that the club’s finances would not stretch to signing a ruthless striker who could make a telling difference.

He said: “We have to be more creative and be more ruthless with the chances we do create.

“Our frontline is quite small. We haven’t got anybody who is really aggressive in the air.

“There’s no magic wand. We can’t go and buy that creative player that scores 20 goals. It’s never been the case at St Mirren. That’s up to me to continue to work on that.”