Higdon back on the goal trail Motherwell striker Michael Higdon feels confident he can get back in goalscoring form after his rise to the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League charts saw him named player of the month. Higdon netted six goals in September, including a hat-trick against Inverness, to take Motherwell to the top of the table before last weekend's defeat by Celtic. Motherwell are looking to bounce back from successive 2-0 defeats against the Old Firm when they host Dundee United and Higdon aims to get back on the goal trail. Higdon said: "I've been playing well and hopefully that will continue. "I'm leading the scoring charts with seven goals, I'm very happy with that. "The team have been playing well, minus the last two games, so all in all it's been a good start. "I feel like I can score in every game at the moment. I haven't scored in the last two games, which is disappointing, so I'm aiming to put that right tomorrow. "I've been on the other end of it where I've not been scoring or hitting the stand, so I like it at the moment." Higdon was not universally popular among the Fir Park support after arriving from St Mirren before the start of last season, but he has emphatically won over the sceptics. The 29-year-old has now notched 23 goals in 51 games for Motherwell, with his hold-up play and finishing prowess more than making up for any lack of mobility. "If I score goals, everyone will be happy," the former Falkirk striker said. "It's down to me to score goals as the spearhead of the attack. If the fans are happy and I'm happy, we are all happy. "Things can change quickly in football. Things are going well now, so there is no point dwelling on the negative." Higdon is out of contract in the summer but is open to extension talks, which are set to take place before Christmas. "I'm very settled here," the Liverpudlian said. "I enjoy the club. It's a long way to go until we talk about contracts but my family is settled here and I have a little girl in school. "But you just never know in football what's round the corner." Dundee United manager Peter Houston has called on side to get back to basics against Motherwell. United have slipped to second-bottom place after a recent run of poor form which has saw them fail to win in the league since beating Dundee at Tannadice in August. They head for Lanarkshire looking to erase the memory of last weekend's 4-0 defeat away to Inverness and Houston believes getting back to what they're good at can help his side in their efforts to kick-start their season. Houston, whose side are without a goal in four SPL games, said: "We all know what we did last weekend wasn't good enough. That performance wasn't anywhere near the standard we're capable of. "So we have to try and get back to basics and stop conceding goals because our heads seem to go down once we do. "It's fair to say the boys are lacking a bit of confidence just now so it's a case of trying to get that back, hopefully starting at Motherwell. "We have worked extremely hard on the training pitch all this week trying to become hard to beat again, which is the key to most things in football. "That's all we can do and that's all we will do." Houston is backing his players to show a positive reaction following their heavy loss at the hands of Caley Thistle. And he has made it clear they are every bit as fired up to address their recent decline and start turning their season round Houston said: "We are all hurting. "I'm not trying to make excuses or anything like that. "When we've suffered disappointments in the past the lads have normally showed a good response, which we hope is the case when we got to Motherwell. "On a positive side, we also have five clean sheets. What has happened is that three teams against us have scored three, three, and four which is why the goal difference is so poor. "So there have been games in which we've been defensively sound and there have been matches where we have been soft. "But there is a lot of room for improvement and we just have to work on achieving it." Houston also urged his players to remain clam and not panic in Lanarkshire. He said: "I'd like to think it's a time for calm heads. It's still early days. "We have also got to be brave and strong when we've got the ball."
Source: PA
