Motherwell's battle for a top six finish gives defender hope for next season

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Shane Blaney says Motherwell’s fighting spirit gives him hope for next season’s Premiership.The Lanarkshire side have taken a fair few set-backs during this campaign and went through a 15-game winless streak from September to December – with Blaney pointing out that there were several good performances in that time.Blaney’s second goal of the season, a thunderous shot into the top left corner, earned his side a point against Hibs that wasn’t enough for either side to end in the top half of the table.But the Irish defender says even being in with a shoot of a top six finish shows great spirit from his side.He said: “The way we turned that round gives me hope for next season.

I also felt during that run that there were certain games where we were playing quite well but drawing instead of winning.“We should have taken more from a lot of the matches on that sequence because the performances were good.“That was enough to keep our belief intact and there’s never been a lack of belief in the dressing room in all my time here.“The gaffer instils a real positive mindset every week, the lads all feed off one another so there’s positive energy throughout the club.“We’ll go into the post-split fixtures now and the gaffer’s already said to us that he wants us to finish on top of the pile as the best of the rest.”Blaney says the only goal he has scored that was better than his leveller against Hibs came against Motherwell while with Sligo Rovers in a Europa Conference League qualifier last season.And it showed that fighting until the end is the right thing to do.He said: “It showed the value of playing right until the final whistle but, ultimately, there was only disappointment in our changing room because we knew before the game that