Motherwell boss Graham Alexander will continue working to improve Tony Watt’s scoring rate after the forward netted the only goal against Dundee.
The 27-year-old glanced home a first-half header to net in his third consecutive cinch Premiership game and match his league tally for the whole of last season. It was his fourth in all competitions this term.
Watt hit seven goals last season and is still to get into double figures in a campaign – his record total was nine for Lierse while on loan from Celtic in 2013-14.
The Scotland cap’s skill has never been in question and his work-rate and hold-up play have improved since joining Well, and now Alexander wants to increase his goal return.
“It was a fantastic ball in from Jake (Carroll) and Tony is getting into those areas really well now and hitting the target more,” the Motherwell boss said.
“We are working hard on the training pitch with him and the other strikers and it is paying off. He has been excellent since he has come back into the team.
“He has to continue on those improvements. I don’t want to set any targets for him other than to improve on last year.
“We expect our front three to get into goalscoring areas.
“We know Tony has got the quality, sometimes he has shown it in other areas of the pitch and we have tried to get him into better areas where he can score first-time finishes and he has got another one.
“We know his capabilities and we hope that he can improve his game.
“All of the boys can improve. We don’t think anyone is the finished article so we try to find where we can help them improve and put in the work but it’s down to the player to take it on board and go and put it into games.”
Motherwell had to hang on after Carroll was sent off for a lunge on Max Anderson but Dundee struggled to turn their superior possession into shots on target throughout.
Manager James McPake felt the applause of their travelling fans afterwards showed they were on the right road.
“I’ve played for this club and walked off the Fir Park pitch being booed after being beaten 1-0 or 2-0,” said McPake, who hopes Charlie Adam’s groin injury will settle during the international break. “The fans showed their appreciation to the players.
“We have a couple of niggles coming back. Jordan Marshall and Alex Jakubiak will come back into the group and they’re two players that would have made a big difference to us in this game. We’re not that far away.
“Adam’s problem is his groin. We’ll get that assessed on Monday. With the break we now have, we’ll hopefully have him back for our next game.”
