Paul McGinn hopes Motherwell can bounce back from just their second defeat under boss Stuart Kettlewell to spring a surprise on Celtic this weekend - and reckons they have a chance with Kevin van Veen on an impressive scoring streak.
The Steelmen suffered a 2-1 defeat to Dundee United on Saturday after the visitors came back from van Veen's first half opener to claim the points through an Ilmari Niskanen strike and a Jamie McGrath penalty.
Before the match, 'Well had a long shot at a top six spot, knowing that wins over United and Celtic plus other results going for them had to all fall into place.
An Edinburgh derby win for Hibs over Hearts, however, put paid to that before the game had even kicked off, so seventh spot is now their goal ahead of their final pre-split clash this weekend when they visit the Hoops.
It is a tall order with Ange Postecoglou's side having lost just once in 32 games so far, but with Dutch striker van Veen on a run of eight goals in five games, defender McGinn feels that gives them some hope.
He said: “Kevin is a threat against anyone. I heard Ezri Konsa say he was the hardest player he'd ever faced when he was at Charlton.
“It just shows you how good he is. If we can get him service, I don’t think the Celtic boys will enjoy playing against him.
“He’s causing teams all sorts of problems right now and long may that continue.
"It will be our aim to go and get a win and then we can look at the ugly games after the split.
“We know how tough it will be as nobody is taking points off them, but you never know."
On their top-six hopes ending before kick-off, he added: "I didn't know Hibs had won but I noticed how it was going.
“It was just a shame as we were going to go and take three or four off Celtic next week to get ourselves in there!
“Look, we knew it was a slim chance and it was good to be in that position.
“We’ve come a long way in five or six weeks and it was nice to be talked about as a top-six team.
“But, really, it was all about staying in the division. We’ll do all we can to win at Celtic."
"On Saturday we probably weren't quite at it. We could’ve been more clinical.
“If we aren't at it, we won't win games.”
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