Having used the negative opinions of others to such positive effect on Thursday, Motherwell have no intention of handing the same advantage to Rangers.
Ian Baraclough’s side were, as the Englishman pointed out, widely dismissed as having little or no chance of success in the Premiership Play-Off Final.
Their 3-1 victory the club’s first at Ibrox for 18 years made nonsense of those predictions and left them in the reverse position where they are now heavy favourites heading into today’s Fir Park return.
Yet as happy as he is about his team’s clear advantage, Stephen Pearson one of the stars at the Govan ground is convincing when he insists Motherwell believe the job is not even close to being done.
“We have given ourselves a good opportunity, but that is all it is,” said the midfielder, who is confident a tight hamstring won’t keep him out of today’s action.
“To win through, we will have to do the same things, approach the second game in exactly the same manner and play with the same discipline and determination.
“There’s a lot of football to be played, and there will be more twists and turns along the way.
“Everyone wrote us off from the word go against Rangers but I think every one of our players has always realised the importance of making sure the club are still in the Scottish Premiership next season.
“The fact there was a general consensus, that whoever won the Rangers-Hibs game was going to be automatically promoted, didn’t bother us. In fact, it has driven us on.
“The players read papers and when you are written off, it motivates you and gets you going. But we showed in the first leg that we are a good side, with threats all over the pitch.
“We defended well and the keeper was excellent when he needed to be, with a lot of balls coming into the box. We were under pressure but dealt with it brilliantly. I thought the tactics were spot on.”
The former Scotland internationalist is confident it will be a similar story this time round.
“It is our home game now, with our fans’ backing,” he said.
“We have to approach the game in the same manner, with confidence and discipline and see where that takes us.
“When you have a two-goal lead, you tend to sit back. But that’s not going to be the case for us because we know how vulnerable a scoreline that can be. We approach the game as if it’s 0-0, and we go again.
“It is definitely true that Rangers goal on Thursday was a wee warning to us and our keeper made a couple of great saves as well. But we have got threats of our own, and are more than capable on the break.
“We could have scored four or five ourselves, so the warning signs are there for Rangers as well.
“Personal pride is at stake because no-one wants relegation on their CV and we will be doing everything we can to survive.”
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe