Motherwell missing out on Premiership top six would be down to inconsistency, admits star

Motherwell defender Stephen O’Donnell says staying in the Premiership has to be his side’s ultimate target this season, but they could still achieve a top-six position.

O’Donnell says expecting to be in the top half of the table come the split would be 'arrogant' after going through a 15-game run without a win earlier this season.

But the former Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle stopper says his side will be going all-out to achieve that as they host St Mirren on Saturday.

And lack of consistency will be to blame if Motherwell don’t make it.

O’Donnell said: “I think, certainly for us, [the target] on our season needs to be staying up. For us to be sitting here after not winning in 12 games and saying we should be finishing top-six would be just arrogant.

“I think we have good players, we’ve shown that and had some top performances, but we haven’t been consistent as a squad.

“Injuries along the way can obviously curtail things, but we need to strive for better consistency.

“There’s no doubt the quality to be a top-six side is in the dressing room, but without the consistency it doesn’t matter.

“I think after the run we’ve been on, it blew up our season after about the fourth or fifth game in, we went on that long run without a win, and I think it is just important to be trying to hit consistent performance levels.

“When you have a blip, you don’t let the blip become another run.

“Runs are great when they’re on the positive, but when runs start to be as a negative and not getting a win, it can obviously build pressure and starts to snowball into more things.”

Motherwell followed up vital 2-1 wins at both Livingston and Rangers with a 1-0 home defeat against Aberdeen, and though there were controversial mitigating