We’ll come back raring to go

An d y Rose says Motherwell intend to prove they’re still a topsix Premiership side – and hopes that spells bad news for Hamilton Accies.

Rose, 27, is out for revenge against their derby rivals when they clash at Fir Park in the fourth round on January 20, but says returning to form overall is more important.

The Australian said: “The cup game is something we will be really looking forward to.

“At the moment we’re going into this break on a loss, so we want to come back raring to go and hope to get back to where we were a month or so ago.

“Obviously the run we’ve been on has been poor by the standards we’ve been able to set for ourselves.

“There were a lot of new faces at the football club in the first few months, who were absolutely fantastic, and it takes a long time to build a really good reputation for yourself, and it can go very quickly.

“We need to get back to building together, understanding what it was that got us into that top four, and make sure we bring that energy and enthusiasm back with us.

“The form in the last five or six weeks has certainly been the complete opposite of maybe the first few months of the season.

“I think we’ve proved to ourselves, to the fans, to the rest of the league, that we can compete in the top half of the table.

“Certainly a few things have gone against us in recent weeks, but you can’t make excuses.

“Everything evens itself out at the end of the day, so we need to make sure we’re on it, understand what we did to make us so successful, and get back to that.

“The aims in the second half of the season are the same. Although it has been a really poor run results- wise, a lot of the football we’ve played hasn’t really changed.

“Obviously we’ve lost some key figures throughout this stretch, but a lot of what we’ve done on the pitch hasn’t really changed.

“The balls haven’t really been bouncing for us, in either box, so I think the aims will be the same.

“Certainly we still feel that we’re a top-six side and we’re eager to prove that.”

Having enjoyed a run to the Betfred Cup final, where they lost to Celtic after Cedric Kipre was sent off, Rose is keen for Motherwell to get to the Scottish Cup final.

He said: “That cup run was huge for us, momentum-wise, and we beat some very good teams on the way. That gives everybody a bit of confidence, and throughout that cup run I thought our league form was also very good, so it goes handin-hand and we will be looking forward to kick-starting that in the cup.

“The final seems miles away at the moment, but we’ll certainly be looking to get back to Hampden. It was a great occasion for us, and we’ll certainly want to get back there.”