Robinson refusing to give up on a top-six spot despite Killie reverse

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson refused to give up on their top-six hopes after a 1-0 home defeat by Kilmarnock.

Killie moved three points above Motherwell in sixth place in the Ladbrokes Premiership and have two games in hand.

Hearts are a further three points ahead, but Robinson still believes it is possible to catch up in their final six games before the split.

“There’s a long, long way to go. There’s no reason why we can’t catch either of those teams above us,” he said. “There’s no way we are giving up.”

Motherwell created the majority of the chances in the first half, but could not seriously trouble Jamie Macdonald and the closest they came to an opener was when Kirk Broadfoot turned Chris Cadden’s cross against his own post.

Stephen O’donnell scored out of the blue in the 34th minute when he collected Curtis Main’s loose pass, drove forward and fired just inside the bottom corner from nearly 30 yards.

The visitors withstood 13 corners, but generally restricted Motherwell’s crosses and

0 Motherwell’s Carl Mchugh puts in a strong tackle to rob Lee Erwin. chances from open play after the interval as they sat back and held on.

Robinson said: “Sometimes football is cruel, you don’t get what you deserve.

“But if you don’t make the right decisions in the final third then obviously it wins and loses you games. And they punished us for one mistake, plain and simple.

“There’s not a lot I can really say was wrong with the whole performance. Decision-making in the final third and deliveries from set-plays could definitely have been better.

“We will take it on the chin and say well done to Killie, they defended with their lives. We will pick ourselves up and go again on Saturday.”

Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke was not getting ahead of himself after moving into the top six. “I just want to stay as far away from the bottom as possible,” he said.

“That was my brief when I came in here. All we can do every time there is a match is get further away from the bottom.”

Clarke added: “The defenders are big enough and they won their fair share of headers. It’s why we went with three at the back. We knew there would be a lot of crosses into the box.

“The players are feeling good about themselves, although Motherwell will feel aggrieved they haven’t got anything out of the game.

“Everything just seems to be going our way at the moment, so while it’s going like that you just ride the crest of the wave and keep picking up the points.”