IAN BARACLOUGH has demanded a reaction from his Motherwell team as they make the arduous trip to Methil tonight.

The Steelmen go into this evening’s League Cup tie at Bayview on the back of four straight defeats, two of which they held an early lead in before squandering it away.

The latest dent to their attempted resurgence after last season’s struggles came in a 2-1 reverse at McDiarmid Park on Saturday that saw Louis Moult’s opener cancelled out by two cheaply-conceded Steven MacLean goals.

Panic is starting to set in among some fans fearful of another long season stretching out in front of them. It is a worry Baraclough wants to kill off, and that starts tonight in Fife.

He said: “There has to be a reaction. It hurts that we’re dominating games of football and not coming away with anything.

“There has to be a reaction and a change, whether it’s in the mindset, the set-up, the shape, the way we’re developing throughout a game.

“We’ve taken the lead on three occasions and only held on to it once – the first game of the season. When you put yourself in a good position to win games of football then there’s a real frustration.

“It’s a collective thing. Whether it’s individual mistakes for goals, which you can half-swallow if teams are cutting you open but I don’t see any goals when they’ve had to work particularly hard for them.”

The manager added: “I’m there to be shot at and I’ll take criticism because no-one likes losing, but we have to do it as a whole group together.”

The frustrations from Ladbrokes Premiership duty must be banished from the minds of all Baraclough’s players as the bright lights of Methil appear on the horizon tonight.

A cup run for a club like Motherwell is also of great importance both from a football perspective and financially. In recent years the Steelmen have struggled to get beyond the first hurdle in both competitions, most notably back in November 2013 when Albion Rovers inflicted an embarrassing 1-0 shock.

It is fair to say a similar result this evening would cut just as deeply, and Baraclough is not taking the task of overcoming their League Two hosts lightly.

He said: “We said in pre-season that it’s one of our goals to have a cup run. We have to be better in the cups and we have to get to the latter stages of one or both competitions.

“There will be one or two changes because there has to be a freshness but nobody is taking East fife lightly. I’ll put out the strongest team I can to go and win the game.

“It’s important we have a cup run and get back to winning games. We, as a group, would be stronger for that.”

One player who could be rested for tonight’s game is Stevie Hammell.

The Motherwell full-back was taken off as a precaution on Saturday after feeling a tightness in his groin, and Baraclough said: “We have to check up on Stevie Hammell.

“I didn’t want to take any chances because of the issues he had last year with his groin. Now there’s stiffness on the other side so it’s nothing to do with where he had the surgery.

“I just wanted to get him off when he had discomfort.”