Motherwell bask in glory of making Europe as boss speaks on Ricki Lamie's Dundee situation

Motherwell manager Graham Alexander said guiding the club to Europe is up there with winning promotion to the English Premier League after the Steelmen defeated Hearts to qualify for the Europa Conference League.

The 2-1 victory at Fir Park clinched a top-five finish with one match to spare and with it a berth in the qualifying round of UEFA’s third-tier competition.

Goals from Joe Efford and Ricki Lamie sealed the victory over the Jambos and a proud Alexander was delighted to deliver such a glory night to the club, saying it ranked up there with winning promotion as a player with Burnley to England’s top flight and as a manager with Fleetwood in League 2.

“It’s a brilliant feeling to qualify for Europe,” said Alexander. “We’ve had to put the tin hats on since January because results hadn’t been great but we kept working away and got our reward. We won enough points over the course of the season, we spent 24 weeks in the top six, and the lads have shown great courage to win the last two games.

“I’ve won a couple of promotions in the past but this is as good as them, without a doubt. I’m buzzing that I’ve shared it with good people here.”

Alexander is also hopeful of keeping matchwinner Lamie, who has signed a pre-contract with Dundee but is able to renege on it after the Dens Park club’s relegation to the Championship.

“Are we hopeful on keeping Ricki? Yeah, hopeful is all we can be given the budget,” added Alexander. “We’ve spoken since it came to light about the clause if Dundee go down. We want to get these last games out of the way and sit down with him. If we can do it, great. Hopefully he's seen that we trust him.”