Tom Hateley is desperate to use the momentum gained from beating Celtic as ‘Well enter the final stages of a competitive fight for a top-six spot.
Hateley, like many others in claret and amber, was impeccable against Lennon’s side last weekend and is now chasing consistency after ‘Well proved they can match the very best the SPL has to offer.
“If we can carry on our momentum from last week and hopefully get consistency in our game then we have the belief that we can go and win anywhere,” a confident Hateley proclaimed. “I don’t think its naivety – we believe that we can beat anyone.
“It’s fair to say that we deserved to beat Celtic last week. It goes to show what we can achieve on our day. We’re just not consistent enough – that is shown when you lose to St Mirren and then beat Celtic.
“Consistency is the most important thing in football, and that is what we want to achieve.”
The quest for that elusive consistent streak will begin as the Steelmen travel to Inverness to face Terry Butcher’s seventh-placed Caley Thistle side.
It is a game made all the more vital due to the fact it is the first of a series of encounters against teams who are also chasing a berth in the top half of the SPL.
Positive results in the next four matches, against Inverness, Kilmarnock, Aberdeen and Dundee United will see ‘Well secure a place in the ‘Championship Group’ after the split, and may even spark a chase for fourth place.
Motherwell’s 2009/10 Young Player of the Year continued: “From now until the split every game is massive. There are just so many teams in contention.
“It’s a important run of game coming up – we’ll take it one at a time and not get ahead of ourselves. There’s about eight or nine teams who will fancy a place in the top-six – we know how tight it is.
“That momentum has to continue going up to Inverness as that will be a huge game. If we can beat them – like we did last time in Inverness – then it will give us another cushion ahead of another team who could catch us.”
Monte Carlo-born Hateley also took a moment to praise Darren Randolph, who has surpassed John Ruddy’s record of 15 clean sheets in a season with his 16th against Celtic – and it’s only March.
It has been a remarkable achievement for the big Irish keeper, and makes a mockery of the fear around Fir Park at the beginning of this campaign that the excellent Ruddy would prove irreplaceable.
“You don’t get 16 clean sheets if you don’t put the work in,” Hateley praised. “It’s so good to know that you have a solid keeper behind you – someone you can trust to come and take crosses and make vital saves.
“Darren deserves all the plaudits he is given. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”