If Motherwell are winning by a single goal or the score is deadlocked as the scoreboard clock ticks into the closing stages today, the tension around Fir Park will be palpable.

One of these sides will occupy the relegation play-off position come the end of this afternoon’s encounter, making the occasion tense enough for both sets of players and supporters.

If you factor in Motherwell’s recent propensity to leak late, late goals, then fingernails will be chewed to the quick should it be tight as the fourth official holds the board aloft.

While gutted about the nature of these recent concessions, defender Stephen McManus is experienced enough to know that his side are in a much better place at the moment than they were last season, giving him belief that it is a matter of time before they start to turn things around.

“Last week was maybe not as bad as the previous ones, but it’s certainly something I have never experienced in my career – three last-minute goals in consecutive weeks,” he said.

“We were sitting in the dressing room and we couldn’t believe we had been beaten by a late goal again. We were sitting their scratching our heads.

“I remember this time last year we were at Hamilton and then at Dundee and we lost five and then four goals in these matches.

“And we were saying we’re not playing well at all here, we’re conceding goals we don’t look as if we’re going to score and we always look like we’re going to concede.

“But it’s not like that this year. When you peel it all back there has not been much in the games – outwith the Hearts game when we were convincingly beaten.

“Apart from that it’s been very tight and it’s been hard to take.

"The one thing you cannot do is let it fester or get you down. You need to remain positive. The manager does that, but we also have the responsibility as players to come in and train as well as possibly can.

"We certainly don’t feel as if we are in a place where we are wondering what we are going to get on a Saturday because we are not playing well. That’s not the case. It has been a goal here and there.

“It certainly defies logic but that’s what it has been and we need to move on because the next game is the most important one.

“It’s a big one on Saturday and it’s probably going to be a tense one because both teams will be doing everything they can to win the game.”

McManus believes that the challenge his side face from Kilmarnock will be a stern one, especially as – at least for this game – they are under the guidance of his former Scotland teammate Lee McCulloch.

“Jig has done really well,” he said.

“He is a great lad and someone who has always worked very hard. He has now taken that professionalism that he had as a player into the coaching side of it.

“It was a great result for Kilmarnock in their Scottish Cup tie. I think going back to Ibrox would have been a difficult day for Jig, with different emotions and things going through his mind.

“But his job was to get a result for Kilmarnock and he did that. I’m sure it is something in which he will go and do well in the future.

“You don’t have the career that big Jig had without being a winner. I couldn’t speak highly enough of him as a team-mate and an opponent. You knew what you were getting with him.

“He works extremely hard. Whether as a player or on the coaching side, you can see that he takes it very seriously. I wish him every success this year.”