McCall - Third-place battle isn't over

Motherwell manager Stuart McCall was delighted with the manner of his team's 5-1 victory over St Johnstone - but warned his players not to think they had secured third place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

The convincing win against an under-strength St Johnstone sealed a European place of some sorts and moved Motherwell five points clear of Dundee United in the race for a Champions League qualifying spot following Hearts' late equaliser at Tannadice.

McCall said: "We talked through the week about teams in third, fourth, fifth and sixth are so tight and evenly matched and we talked about edgy, nervy games."

He added: "You want all your fighting qualities and desire but we talked about playing. We have good players we don't want to play with fear, we want to get on the ball and make things happen.

"Thankfully we have done that and it's nice to see four forwards scoring and Chris Humphrey being outstanding. That's good when you're looking for a lift. I would have accepted 1-0 in the last minute off someone's backside but to put five in was a good day for us."

St Johnstone manager Steve Lomas was unhappy with Bobby Madden's penalty award but admitted his side had produced their worst performance since he took over.

Lomas felt Steven Anderson should not have penalised for bringing down Humphrey given he had slipped and could not have avoided a collision.

"In my opinion it wasn't a penalty but Bobby is in no way to blame for our 5-1 defeat," said Lomas, who lost full-backs Callum Davidson and Dave Mackay to injury and strike pairing Cillian Sheridan and the suspended Francisco Sandaza.

"It was simply not good enough in defence, midfield and up front. We started well but we just had nothing after that."