Cole double eases ‘Well’s drop fears
Motherwell boss Graham Alexander hailed his charges for finally showing a consistency that’s been sorely lacking this season.
The Steelmen made it three games undefeated for the first time since December 2019, as Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Livingston earned them back-to-back wins in the Premiership.
Devante Cole was at the double and Christopher Long secured the points after Jack Fitzwater had pulled one back for the Lions.
It has been a huge upturn in form following humiliating defeats to Hamilton Accies and St Johnstone last month and they are now 10 points clear of rock bottom Kilmarnock in their bid for survival.
Alexander, who joined in January after Stephen Robinson’s resignation, said: “The challenge we’ve had – not just in my period, but when I look back at the rest of the season – is consistency.
“The team has been capable of picking up really good results but it’s not been prolonged over a significant period.
“That’s the first time for well over a year that we’ve gone three games undefeated.
“That needs addressing.
“We’ve got six games to go and we want to take as many points as possible.
“We won’t always play as well or as fluidly as we can, but we can never come away from that energy and that commitment and discipline we’ve shown in the last three games.
“We’ve picked up three brilliant results after being on the floor.
“Credit to the players, they’ve shown true character to get these last three results but it’s the performance levels and the commitment that ’s really pleased me.”
Cole opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 32 minutes before an instinctive finish in the 59th minute.
Livi pulled one back through Fitzwater’s diving header, but Long made sure of the points with a composed finish in the 69th minute after a fine through ball from Cole.
Despite opening up a big gap between themselves and the bottom of the table, Alexander reiterated to his side that they can’t afford to rest on their laurels.
When the new gaffer took charge, s o m e p o s i t i v e re s u l t s h a d ‘ We l l dreaming of a top six spot but that all went disastrously wrong with the derby defeat and Saints loss.
“I don’t want to think about where we are because I don’t want anyone to relax, sit back, think we are in easy street,” Alexander added.
“We’ve got to chase, we’ve got to commit, we’ve got to go for every game.
“For me the league table is irrelevant because I don’t want it changing our approach.
“All we’ve got to look at is our next game and can we win three points.
“If we continue that mindset then we’ll be in a good position.
“We did it a couple of weeks ago, I felt subconsciously, when we beat Kilmarnock away.
“People looked further ahead and we got a couple of slaps in the face for it and we can’t make that mistake again.”
Motherwell are idle this weekend and return to action on March 20 when they travel to Kilmarnock for the final game before the Premiership split.