MOTHERWELL midfielder Chris Cadden is probably too young to remember Dad’s Army, but he was pulling off a rather convincing impression of Lance Corporal Jones on Saturday as he insisted now is not the time to panic after another disappointing result for the Fir Park side.

There may be those among the club’s supporters who are asking who he thinks he is kidding, but while the Scotland cap isn’t playing down his own disappointment with how things have panned out for Stephen Robinson’s side so far this term, he isn’t about to resign himself to a relegation battle just seven games into the league season.

The latest setback for the men in claret and amber came at Rugby Park, as Kilmarnock recovered from Curtis Main’s early opener to deservedly run out winners by three goals to one and leave the visitors with five defeats, a draw and a single win so far. Form that suggests a basement battle may await.

“We’re not looking at that just now,” insisted Cadden. “We’re just looking at the next few games ahead of us and try to get the maximum number of points that we can. Then we will see where we are.

“The plan is to get the results that we want and then the table will start to look a bit better. Things are not looking great just now but, if you look at the table, a couple of wins and you are right back up the table. It is still tight so that is the plan.”

It is true that the next few fixtures look a little kinder to Motherwell than a tough start that has seen them play five of last season’s top six, but they will still have to show more fortitude than they did here if they are to turn around their fortunes.

The turning point in this game undoubtedly came when Main fluffed his lines from the penalty spot midway through the first half after Aaron Taylor-Sinclair had gone down rather easily under the challenge of Stephen O’Donnell.

The Motherwell striker’s weak effort was easily fielded by Jamie MacDonald, and suddenly the entire feel of the game changed. From a position of dominance, the Motherwell players visibly shrunk in stature, while Kilmarnock chests puffed out as they sensed the shift in momentum.

That was exemplified as Chris Burke was quickest to react after Trevor Carson had done brilliantly to save Jordan Jones low shot, the veteran winger bundling home while the Motherwell defenders stood statuesque.

It was no surprise when the excellent Greg Stewart moved the home side ahead before the break. Eamonn Brophy shrugged off Liam Donnelly, allowing Stewart to stride forward unchallenged before stroking a lovely curling finish into the bottom corner.

The tension in the Motherwell camp was plain to see as goalkeeper Carson tore strips off teammate Gael Bigirimana for his failure to track Stewart, and the mood wouldn’t improve for them after the break.

Stewart was again the tormentor, running at Donnelly in the area only for the Northern Irishman to hang out a lazy leg and send him tumbling to the deck. Brophy showed Main how it should be done by calmly converting and confirming Kilmarnock’s dominance.

The current mood in Steve Clarke’s camp could hardly contrast more with that of Robinson’s. Their recovery from an uncharacteristically sloppy start followed up their win over Celtic last week in fine style.

The exciting attacking partnership between Stewart and Brophy is currently good enough to keep Kris Boyd on the bench, which tells you everything you need to know about the threat they are posing.

“It’s another great result coming off a good one last week,” said a beaming Brophy. “We didn’t want to ruin our good work from last week.

“Greg Stewart is a very intelligent player, he gets in the hole and I know if I make my wee runs he can find me. He has been a top player since he came in, he has three goals in four games so hopefully he will continue that.

“Hopefully he can keep doing that week in, week out here.”