Stuart Kettlewell admits possible Motherwell change of transfer plan after Lennon Miller injury blow

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell admits Hearts should have won by a more comfortable margin against his side - as a Lennon Miller injury could change January thinking.

A Musa Drammeh goal in the first half sealed a 1-0 win for the Jambos against a Fir Park side who were out of sorts in the opening 45 minutes. Kettlewell made three changes at the break and were denied a late point by two outstanding Craig Gordon saves in the Hearts goal.

The game came without midfielder Lennon Miller, who will miss six to eight weeks with a hairline fracture in his foot. Key striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos also missed out but while Kettlewell knows how big those misses were, he holds no excuses and reckons Hearts could have had a more comfortable scoreline.

He said: “I think that the scoreline flattered us, to be honest. I felt that our levels were as poor as they've been. Three major elements, technically, tactically and physically. I just didn't think we were at the races from the first minute. It probably took us 81 minutes to make one pass with penetration and then the pitch started to open up.

“It doesn't create a great chance but more for me to have some sort of solidity and security to what you're doing in possession of the ball and that's never going to be enough when you come here. It's not going to be close to it. The fact that we make three changes at half-time, the fact that I think we've got four systems that we try and deploy throughout the day will indicate to you that I wasn't happy with what I was seeing and that's not been like us.

“Even in our poor days, you start to see a real grit and determination to try and see if you can fight and scrap your way through the game even when it's not your day and that only really came in the last few minutes. We're not going to paper over the cracks by saying that Craig Gordon makes two absolutely brilliant stops to keep us out and thinking that we should have had a draw because we shouldn't have. I think Hearts should have been out of sight.

“We've got two guys that are very influential players for us. Lennon in particular has played just about every minute to this point. So you have to say when we're not able to handle the ball in the middle of the park, when we don't show a composure, when we're not quite connected in how we're trying to press and how we're trying to get the ball back, you have to say that that has a huge bearing on it.

“But we have to find a solution from what we've got because without these guys it's as simple as that. We've been missing key players all season, we're at the point of trying to get them back to full fitness and that's possibly the only crumb of comfort I take is getting guys like Jack Vale and Sam Nicholson back onto the pitch. They're not match ready, they're not match fit but I need to try and get them on the pitch at this point to give us an impact.”

Miller’s impact could impact on January transfer dealings. When asked if that was the case, Kettlewell responded: “I think it may well do. It may well do. Again, you have to make sure that your levels are good of course. We've had a plan coming into January and part of that plan wasn't being without the likes of Lennon, not being without Apostolos.

“But as I say, these things can happen so we may well have to try and be active to see if we can give ourselves that wee bit of strength and depth in key areas of the pitch.

“That's just a fact of life because I don't want to stand still, I don't want to start going backwards. I think if you're standing still you are going backwards so we have to make sure that we've got as much in the building as we possibly can have to make sure that we start to kick on.”