Motherwell motivated by early-season struggle, says boss after thumping win

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell admits his side are motivated by how they felt at the bottom of the league. after demolishing Livingston 3-0 at Fir Park this afternoon.

A Kevin van Veen double and a strike by Max Johnston had the Steelmen 3-0 up and cruising in 34 minutes, and though the Dutchman had the ball in the back of the net in the second half, it was ruled out for offside.

That moved Motherwell clear in eighth place, three points behind Livingston, but Kettlewell says everybody needs to remember how far Motherwell have come since the days of scrapping it out at the bottom of the table.

He said: "It would be easy for us to sit back, relax and think we've done our job, but we've definitely not, and we will be working to make sure we can stride forward and keep performing the way that we have done so far.

"Sometimes we come away and think that [being at the bottom] was never a situation, but it was, and it wasn't that long ago.

"I keep saying to the players, remember how it felt when you were at the bottom of the table and people were getting on your case.

"We've not done anything, we sit on 36 points, and I just want to amass as many as we can between now and the end of the season."

Kettlewell added: "It was another good home performance from us, I'm delighted with the clean sheet and the three goals.

"There were moment in the game when I feel we could be better, but I thought we scored at crucial stages in the game.

"Probably the most aspect for me, and it's no coincidence, is the nature of the goals. It's things we're working hard on at the training pitch during the week, so if we can apply ourselves in the fashion that we do, take on the information and execute it, it gives us a really good chance.

"The work