David Clarkson claims his volley in Motherwell's 3-1 SPL victory at home to Inverness on Wednesday night was his best goal of the season.The Fir Park forward took his tally for the campaign to 12 with his double, and after opening the scoring on just seven minutes, he sealed his side's win with a stunning left-footed strike from the edge of the area.

Clarkson said: "I would say it's one of the best I've scored - you don't get many like that in your career so I think it is my best of the season, especially as it was with my bad foot.

"I haven't scored many like that before, especially with my left. They're usually from five or six yards or headers, but it just came to the edge of the box and I tried to keep my eye on it and make contact, which luckily I did and it went in.

"I was pleased with both goals, but it was really good for us to go two goals in front just before half-time because it probably deflated them a bit.

"Going 2-0 ahead in the first 10 minutes made a big difference because we were in control of the game and Inverness had to go for it.

"They worked hard to get a goal back which lifted them and gave them a lifeline, but it was important for us to keep playing football, get another goal and concentrate on the performance."

The victory moved Motherwell four points clear of Dundee United in fourth place, thanks to a run of nine wins in their last 12 league games.

Manager Mark McGhee insisted that his team must first concentrate on securing a top-six berth before setting their sights on third place.

And Clarkson insists he and his team mates will be out to produce a similarly impressive performance when Hearts visit on Saturday.

The striker said: "It was important for us to get this victory to grow in confidence, and we want to keep winning to put a gap between us and the rest of the teams, but the main thing is that we're concentrating on the football.

"We have to continue to do well or all this is for nothing. Hearts will be another tough game as they're in a bit of form and we'll need to be at our best to take anything from it, but we'll be up for it and want to take another three points."

Inverness defender Grant Munro came agonisingly close to throwing his team a lifeline when he hit the bar twice in the opening minutes of the second half, and also saw his side have a late penalty claim waved away.

But he admitted the lacklustre visitors could have no complaints about the result.

He said: "It was a shame that I wasn't able to make it 3-2 with the first header as we'd still have had plenty of time to get back into it, but hitting the bar twice sums the night up - with hindsight we were very poor and Motherwell were worthy winners.

"Our bad start in the first 10 minutes cost us the game. We've done that to teams before where a good start can deflate your opponents, and although we thought that if we went into half-time at 2-1 we had a really good chance second half, David Clarkson hit a wonder strike so fair play to him."

He added: "From where I was at the time of the penalty claim, it looked as though the boy took Russell Duncan down, the referee only has a split second to look at it and he's thought Russell's taken a dive."

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