The striker trebled his tally for the Ladbrokes Premiership season – his other goal was a spectacular strike against St Mirren – after earning his first start since October 19.

“James is a boy I rate very highly,” said Robinson, whose side put the game out of sight when Allan Campbell netted from close range midway through the second half.

“We have asked for more of an end product from him. We need more goals, we need more physicality and he certainly showed that in abundance.

“He scores a lot of good goals but you have to be in there to score the goals that nobody really remembers. That will be when James moves on to possibly bigger things.

“For me he can be anything he wants to be, if we can fine-tune him, keep getting him stronger and keep getting his understanding better.

“There is such raw talent there and he’s a great boy to work with.”

St Mirren gifted Motherwell possession immediately before the second and third goals and Paisley boss Jim Goodwin admitted his side were second best.

Goodwin said: “The goals are terrible when you look back at them.

“Prior to the first goal I didn’t feel there was a great deal in the game but the first goal seemed to take a lot out of the players, and it was a real poor reaction thereafter.

“Motherwell just looked stronger and sharper than us.”