Brentford loan keeper says Motherwell had chances to kill off St Johnstone

Ellery Balcombe says Motherwell should have been 2-0 up at half-time against St Johnstone and that would have killed the game, instead of falling to a 2-1 defeat in Perth.

Andy Halliday’s fourth-minute penalty had the Lanarkshire side leading the game until disaster struck in the final four minutes, with Taylor Steven and Bozo Mikulic netting from Graham Carey corners.

Balcombe, 25, who is on loan from Brentford for the rest of this season, reckons the game should have been settled long before then.

He said: “I feel like it would have been better had we gone into the break 2-0 up, and we had a couple of chances in the first half, so it could have been a lot more comfortable.

“But it’s just those little moments that define football, and maybe if we had ours a little bit sooner it would have been a different game.

“I think 2-0 kills the game off, and we would have gone into the second half much more comfortable.

“But it is what it is, we have to look at what we did wrong, and see.”

Motherwell are next in action when they host defending champions Celtic at Fir Park on Sunday, and Balcombe says they’re keen to end a three-game losing streak, regardless of the opposition.

He said: “They don’t come bigger than that, but we would be looking to turn it around either way – it doesn’t matter who we face.

“We just need to get together this week, have a good week on the training pitch with the boys, and go into Celtic, ready.

“This is what I’m here for. I can’t wait to make my home debut, to be in front of a home crowd and hopefully we can get a result, and it doesn’t matter who we face, I’m ready for it, either way.”

Balcombe spent the first half of this season on loan at St Mirren, but lost his place on goal, and was recalled by