McGhee believes Motherwell will finish in top six

Apr 8 2009 by Graham Miller, Wishaw Press

MOTHERWELL boss Mark McGhee remains confident and upbeat about his side’s chances of finishing in the top six for the second season in a row.

Saturday’s home draw against Aberdeen denied ’Well the opportunity to move up into sixth place, but the loss of two valuable points was cushioned by the knowledge that Dundee United had snatched a late equaliser against Hibs in the lunchtime kick-off at Tannadice.

This means ’Well fans are going to experience what McGhee’s former boss, Sir Alex Ferguson famously referred to as “squeaky bum time” during the next couple of Saturdays.

With only two games remaining before the split McGhee remains bullish that his charges can pick up the necessary points from the away fixture against Rangers this coming Saturday, and then at home to St Mirren the following weekend, to leapfrog the Easter Road club and give him consecutive top six finishes.

He said: “We could have got three points (against Aberdeen) and on the balance of play we maybe should have turned it into three points but we’re still in the mix.

“We’ve got two games to play and I think we will squeeze into the top six. We’ve got Rangers away and St Mirren here and I think four points will be enough to get us there. If we make it we’ll still have a chance of making the top four judging by the way the points have gone.”

He was fulsome in his praise of scorer Jim O’Brien, who bagged his first goal for the club and won the man-of-the-match award. McGhee said: “He played well and he has been playing well since he came into the team and it has coincided with a run of results. He gives us a bit more creativity and a bit of pace that gets us up the field a bit quicker. He scored a goal for the first time today which was good, but he needs to score more.”

A successful end to the season would represent a significant turnaround for Motherwell, as only four months ago the Steelmen were grounded at the foot of the SPL table.

However, boss McGhee maintained at that time that once he got his injured players back into first team action there would be a marked improvement in results – and there has been, with only one league defeat since December.

The Fir Park gaffer continued: “Given the problems we had in November and December, to be on the cusp of the top six is not a bad achievement. We know we’ve still got a bit of work to do to make it but we believe we will.”

To take something from both remaining fixtures would represent another solid achievement and keep alive an outside chance of Fir Park hosting continental opposition once again.