Graham Alexander says Liam Kelly could be a keeper

Motherwell manager Graham Alexander admits he would like to recruit goalkeeper Liam Kelly on a permanent basis.

The former Livingston goalkeeper is on loan from QPR until the end of the season.

Kelly helped Motherwell earn a 1-0 victory over St Mirren on Saturday after saving Jamie McGrath’s first-half penalty, with Devante Cole scoring the only goal of the Scottish Premiership contest after the break.

Alexander hopes there may be a way to sign the former Rangers trainee in the summer.

He said: “We’ve spoken to Liam and QPR about it after he said he would be interested in coming back next year.

“It has been on the backburner as we have tried to get permanent players signed up. But if his future lies out of QPR then we would certainly be interested.

“He has done great for us. In the last league game he made a mistake and I think he is still whipping himself about that.

“But he made a massive save from the penalty and he doesn’t have to make anything up to me as he has been fantastic since he came in. And we would really like to keep him.”

The defeat puts a dent in St Mirren’s ambitions of finishing seventh but manager Jim Goodwin felt he could not be too critical of their performance.

He said: “Normally after a defeat you’re really angry and disappointed but I’m actually quite satisfied with what the players gave me.

“It wasn’t like one of those defeats where we didn’t turn up or didn’t try a leg. I thought we did everything, apart from putting the ball in the net.

“We were well in control of the game. If I was sitting here after a 0-0 I’d still have been frustrated.

“We put about 25 crosses into the box and got into good areas. But we’ve missed out on the top six by two goals as we’ve not scored enough goals. And that’s been the story of our season.”