McGhee pleasant surprise at place

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee is surprised his side has the chance to go second in the Premiership despite not being in form.

The Lanarkshire club can move four points behind leaders Celtic if they beat Hearts at Fir Park tomorrow night.

Motherwell are unbeaten in four matches and shone in the opening half of a derby win against Hamilton but have only won twice in the league.

“I never considered we were on any sort of run but we can go second, which is the ridiculous thing about it,” McGhee said.

“We played really well in that first 35 minutes against Hamilton.

“I heard Arsenal manager Arsene-Wenger saying his team’s first-half performance against Chelsea was the perfect performance, well I think our first halfhour was our perfect performance. But we didn’t sustain it and then we went and drew.

“We are still fishing to find the right formula but we could be second on Friday night for a few hours, which would be lovely.”

Hearts can also move second and McGhee is wary of the threat posed by foward Tony Watt, who he has worked with in the Scotland team.

“They are arguably one of the leading three clubs,” McGhee said.

“They established themselves last season, I think they are terrific. They are physical but they can play as well.

“I would have jumped at the chance to take Tony here.”