Stuart Kettlewell: Away form should buoy Motherwell for ‘sternest test’ at Ibrox

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell has told his players to take belief from their impressive away form when they travel to Ibrox but not forget the work ethic and concentration levels that have contributed to their run.

The Steelmen have not lost a league game on the road since Kettlewell took charge in mid-February.

Kettlewell’s side have come away with points from Tynecastle, Dens Park, the Tony Macaroni Arena, McDiarmid Park, Celtic Park, Easter Road, Rugby Park, and the Global Energy Stadium and now look to extend that record against Rangers on Sunday.

Their only defeats this season have come against St Mirren, including at Fir Park in the cinch Premiership last weekend.

Kettlewell said: “There is a belief, there has to be a belief in how we are playing.

“If we don’t have a belief at this stage then I don’t know if you will ever have it, but the flip side to that is if you just think that belief is there and it’s something that’s going to get you a performance and result, then I tend to think that’s when you fall on your face.

“The players have been good but you are only as good as your last game, your last result. Unfortunately for us we felt our performance was good but we didn’t get a result.

“Hopefully this is one that we can show a reaction similar to what we did when we had a defeat. We have not last an away game in the league since I came in, it’s a great accolade, but I would suggest this one possibly becomes the sternest test in that run.”

The former Ross County manager added: “Just because we feel we are playing pretty well, that doesn’t give you a god-given right to say you are going to go there and get a result.

“As soon as you start feeling comfortable that it’s going to click for us, that’s when you fall flat on your face.

“We keep reminding the players of that with the work they do during the week, with their receptive nature and everything we do in terms of talking about our strategy, how we will play, how the opposition will play.

“We need the full buy-in, we need that full attention span to make sure that when the big moments come, that you execute it and make the right decisions.”