Mark McGhee saw a change of approach reap instant rewards as Motherwell beat Inverness 3-1 in Wednesday night's SPL clash at Fir Park.Well's home win, their second in five days, consolidated third place in the table and stretched their advantage over Dundee United to four points, still with a further two games in hand.

Manager McGhee, who saw David Clarkson and Chris Porter put his side two goals up inside the opening 10 minutes, said: "Anyone who's seen us all season might not have recognised us, but we felt we had to have a different approach.

"We worked on certain things that immediately paid dividends and we got a couple of goals from it, and overall, I'm delighted.

"We played a longer, more direct game and took out the element of risk in the middle by asking the two boys there to keep it really simple, and it worked for us.

"It was disappointing to lose a goal to bring it back to 2-1 as it makes it more difficult than it needed to be and keeps them in a game when, until that point, they looked as if they were going to be blown away.

"Two-one unnerves us a little bit and gives them a bit of hope, but the third goal gave us a cushion and effectively killed the game off.

"This was one of our games in hand and it was important that we cashed in on that, but the important thing for us is trying to close on on the top six first and then we'll worry about where we're going to finish."

Inverness had a strong penalty claim five minutes from time when Russell Duncan appeared to be bundled over by Keith Lasley.

McGhee admitted: "It looked a stonewall penalty for me, but the boys are saying it wasn't."

Opposite number Craig Brewster said: "I thought the referee went to give it, but then he decided to book Russell for diving - it's a strange one and I'd love to see it on television."

The Inverness manager admitted his side were simply caught cold by Motherwell's blistering start and praised the quality of their goals, especially Clarkson's unstoppable volley to make it 3-1 just before the interval.

Brewster said: "They were superb in the first 20 minutes and really put us under pressure - they were first at everything and we couldn't cope.

"Motherwell got balls in the box and caused problems by putting us under pressure; it was a great strike by Don Cowie to get us back in the game and we regrouped, but it was a wonder-goal from Clarkson and you have to take your hat off and commend it.

"They were up for it tonight; I thought they were sharper and a bit hungrier than us, their strikers were a real handful and you can see why they're third in the league, but the positives for me were in the second half."

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