Mark McGhee has warned his Motherwell players they can't consider themselves to be top-six contenders if they lose their next two games.

First up for the Fir Park side is a trip to Inverness tonight to play bottom of the table Caley Thistle before the small matter of Hogmanay's Lanarkshire derby away to Hamilton Accies becomes the priority.

Motherwell are currently just three points off sixth-placed Ross County with a game in hand but their manager is targeting a big haul over the remaining festive fixtures to keep their lofty aspirations going.

“The worst case scenario is we lose the two games. It won’t be the end of the world - but I do think these games will define our season," said McGhee.

“If we win them both I believe we can look forward to being top six challengers when we get back.

“We will have Carl McHugh back and we might do a bit of business, and we’ll be looking at a really positive second half of the season.

“If we don’t win them then we might have to accept that we are going to have to roll our sleeves up.

“We’re not going to cut our throats if we don’t win these two games but we would have to accept we are going to be in a scrap.

“The festive period is important. We have two games against teams around us. It’s putting down a marker.

“I’m telling the player they are good enough and they have to go out and prove me right."

It is a sentiment shared by defender Stephen McManus, who added: “There is an importance to have goals in the team and when you look at it that’s probably the biggest factor in our team.

“Yeah, in my opinion we miss Marvin Johnson and Stephen Pearson but players have come in and done fine.

“I feel that we are a wee bit missing to going on and having a similar run to we did last season. We spoke about that yesterday and in the last week.

“The break is going to be important for all the teams. We’ve not had it for a while but you want to go into the break having picked up a few wins."