St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has admitted he “detests” conceding goals.
And the Perth boss wants his team’s clean-sheet badge of honour back on their kit.
The goals have flowed in the first few weeks of the season, but according to Wright it is the goals conceded statistic that separates teams fighting against relegation from those that make the top six.
He said: “It has been a frustrating start for the players rather than for me because they haven’t got the rewards from what they have put into games.
“At the start of the season if someone had said we’d have scored six goals we would have expected to have more than two points at this stage.
“The points tally doesn’t equate to how well they have played.
“We have to cut out the mistakes that are costing us dear at the moment. It is back to basics and let’s start keeping clean sheets again.
“We have to get the balance right between creativity and solidity. But we also have to get our noses in front games because going behind puts the onus on teams to open up a bit more.
“A lot of our success has been based on having very little possession in games. But we have had our fair share so far.
“We need a better final ball and a bit more desire in the box and we will score even more goals. But we know that defensively we have to get clean-sheets.
“Dave Mackay coming back brings invaluable experience and that should help us. He brings a calming influence and organisation to the back four.”
Wright, whose team face Motherwell tomorrow, added: “I hate losing goals. I detest it. But we didn’t keep many clean-sheets at the start of the season last year so this is similar.
“We pride ourselves on keeping clean-sheets in more than 50% of our games. That is what we have achieved in recent seasons and we have to get back to that.
“Do that and we will start winning games. I would take a 1-0 win rather than a 4-3 at the minute. We have played some decent stuff but right now give me a boring 1-0 win.
“We know there is an onus on us to create more than last season because you can’t rely on keeping clean-sheets every week. It is about getting the balance right.
“Motherwell are a strong wide with pace in the wide areas. It won’t be easy.
“There isn’t much between teams in this league so clean sheets are important. It can be the difference between top six and bottom six.”
Meanwhile, midfielder Scott Brown has been loaned out to Dumbarton, while centre-back Gareth Rodger is off to Ballymena. Both deals run through to the end of the calendar year.
“We are top heavy with central midfielders and to have any chance of getting someone in I needed to get people out on loan,” Wright explained.
“We have David Wotherspoon, Simon Lappin, Chrissie Millar, Murray Davidson and Liam Craig all comfortable in there.
“Scott is delighted. He sees it as a good opportunity to go and play regularly in the Championship. It has served other young players well. It will be good for his development and he will come back a better player.
“There were League Two clubs in Scotland interested in Gareth but I think the standard will be better for him over in Northern Ireland. It will be good experience for him.
“It is a tough league and he got a taste of it in pre-season. He will be out of his comfort zone and that will be good for him. It is good standard over there.
“He picked up so many niggling injuries last season but a good three or four months will see him come back here and come into the reckoning here. He is aggressive, good in “We have a lot of young players out on loan. People say we have a big squad but we have five of the squad out. And we are always looking to bring in players.”