Motherwell need major surgery, says Steven Hammell after late drama delivers defeat to St Johnstone

Motherwell interim boss Steven Hammell says the cheap goals they lost in their 2-1 defeat to St Johnstone shows their squad requires major surgery.

The Steelmen looked to have grabbed a point at Fir Park when Stephen O'Donnell's deflected header in the 91st minute found the net to cancel out Jamie Murphy's first-half opener for Saints.

But the hosts failed to deal with a corner three minutes later and Stevie May popped up to snatch all three points for the visitors.

Gutted Hammell was furious with his side's defending and insisted it showed there is still work for the club to do in the transfer window.

He said: "I think it's clear to see from anyone that was at the game that the squad needs a bit of help. It needs a bit of surgery for sure.

"We've not had our problems to seek and there's been a lot going on that we've just got on with.

"We've not made any excuses or complaints about it.

"We went into a lot of detail all week, but the main thing was we need to deal with long balls and we need to deal with set-pieces.

"That's the main threat and it is most weeks in this league.

"The first goal is a straight long ball with the second striker running and we struggled with it.

"It's a poor goal to lose.

"The second one again is a long ball, but we make an absolute mess of it, which results in the corner. Then it was about still looking to maybe win the game if we can deal with the corner, but we don't.

"In the second phase we switch off, which just can't happen.

"The two goals we've lost are poor."

The defeat could deal a blow to Hammell's hopes of landing the job permanently, with Motherwell set to discuss the candidates to replace Graham Alexander this week.

Hammell added: "The decision is out of my control and I'll let the