Jonathan Obika is relishing the challenge of helping to light a fire under struggling Motherwell’s season after getting himself out of the “freezer”.

The former St Mirren forward arrived at Fir Park after 3am on Wednesday and made his debut off the bench in a 2-0 cinch Premiership defeat by St Johnstone later that day.

Obika had not played since September 24 after being frozen out of Derek Adams’ Morecambe team and he is determined to make up for lost time.

The 32-year-old said: “I’ve not had any injuries but I’ve felt like I’ve been in a freezer. I’ve been ready but I’ve not been able to express myself on the football field.

“I’m just looking to work hard and get some game time and then I can show what I am all about.

“It was an easy decision. I always felt when I was first here in Scottish football that I would stay in Scotland.

“When I left St Mirren it was late in the window and Stephen Robinson was at Morecambe. I liked how he worked and had trained under him before (at Motherwell) so I was looking forward to working with him.”

Obika was one of four debutants on Wednesday but Motherwell produced their worst league performance of the season to leave themselves level on 20 points with bottom club Dundee United.

Well’s last league win was against United on October 29 and, after losing meekly to a St Johnstone team who were on the back of a seven-match losing run, they take on an Aberdeen team on Saturday who have lost five on the trot and suffered arguably the worst sequence of defeats in their history.

Motherwell looked like a side struggling for confidence against Saints but Obika knows that can quickly change.

“I definitely relish these games,” he said. “When I was at St Mirren and we were in a period where things weren’t going too well, it sometimes just takes a spark and everybody reacts.

“We had already had some words here and I know the boys will be ready for Aberdeen.

“Any time when results aren’t going your way then things can be difficult going into games but I just feel that we need to stay together. I’ve only been here for a few hours but I can see that this group is tight.”