Stephen O’Donnell admits Motherwell could achieve a fourth-placed Premiership finish – but says safety-first is the key.
The Fir Park club currently occupy that berth in the Premiership, and though they have a healthy 12-point lead over bottom side Hearts, O’Donnell says they’re taking nothing for granted.
While the defender admits he’s ‘pessimistic’, O’Donnell says he’s just looking at the bigger picture.
He said: “I would love to say it’s realistic, I’d love to say we should achieve it, but I think we need to focus on getting to a points total that keeps us safe in the league, and from there we then build.
“I think that’s how the club has had financial success. You start from there and try to kick on, so hopefully that’s what we can do.
“We’ve made a hell of a good start to do that, and as soon as we get to a points tally we see as safe, we can maybe look to reassess and kick on from there.
“There’s Aberdeen, Rangers and Celtic who are a wee bit ahead, but everyone else is within maybe 12 points.
“Obviously you’ve got teams like Hibs and Hearts, who have a big financial backing, that could go on a run, they’ve got some very good players.
“I’m pessimistic, so we need to make sure we stay in the league. I think that’s where Motherwell wants to be, where we should be, and if we’re fourth, it’s a hell of a good achievement.
“Top six is a brilliant achievement as well, and bottom six is where, financially, we probably should be.
“But as a club we look to overachieve, to push ourselves, and that’s certainly what we’ll be trying to do.”
Key to that potential top-four finish could be a win over O’Donnell’s former side Kilmarnock tomorrow night, but the former Scotland star says that won’t be easy to bag a third successive Premiership win.
He said: “I think Friday night under the lights is different, it can sometimes bring a nice atmosphere – I don’t know about this time of year when it’s maybe a bit colder, but hopefully it does.
“Winning three in a row would be massive. Looking to push away from teams below us is always the objective, and then we’re coming into a tough run of fixtures with lots of games over Christmas when anything can happen.
“If we can get three on the bounce it would be a great start, I think even unbeaten would be very good. Kilmarnock are a side who on their day are very good.
“They finished in Europe last season, they’ve kept that squad together and have a top manager that has them organised and tough to beat.
“Hopefully it’s a good game, an enjoyable game, and I would take 4-3 right now, but defensively I don’t know if that’s the best return for us.”
O’Donnell added: “We’re sitting in a really good position. As always, there’s room for improvement, but we’ve been more consistent than last year, because we went on a big run last season that we’re hoping to avoid.
“We were looking to piece together a few more consistent, positive results, and I think we’ve managed to do that.
“It’s always about building wee runs, and hopefully on Friday night we can continue and go three on the bounce.”