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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Andy McGilvray

Hearts win was about the Motherwell players, not me, says interim boss Stuart Kettlewell

Stuart Kettlewell says he hasn't spoken to anyone yet about the Motherwell manager's job, and reckons conversations will take place on Monday morning.

The former Ross County gaffer can't have done his chances any harm, however, after steering Motherwell to their only back-to-back Premiership wins this season.

Goals either side of half-time from Jon Obika and Blair Spittal gave Motherwell a terrific win over high-flying Hearts, but Kettlewell was at pains to make it about his players, rather than himself.

He said: "Full testament to the players, they were excellent today, they really were.

"I don't want to make it about me, at all, I genuinely don't.

"We asked them to go about a job in the last two games and they've been excellent.

"The clean sheet is really pleasing, talking about the quality of the opposition that we faced today wasn't for effect, it's because of what I genuinely believe, and I thought the players handled it so well.

"That opening first five or 10 minutes where I didn't really feel we laid a glove on them was fine because of how we responded to it.

Motherwell have enjoyed back-to-back Premiership wins for the first time this season under Kettlewell (SNS Group)

"We got a little catalyst to start playing on the front foot and I thought some of our quality was pretty good at times, in terms of our build-up and trying to get to their final third.

"The only bit we were asking for was the end product.

You could see the players having a bit of belief from their shape, from their discipline, and nullifying Hearts in that early stage. I think it gave us a real foundation to try and build into the game.

Jon Obika celebrates scoring Motherwell's opener against Hearts (SNS Group)

"Hearts had moments in the game, they hit woodwork a couple of times, and they still got in our six-yard area a couple of times. But if there was a mistake I felt the cover was there.

"All credit goes to the players for what is a massive victory for this football club."

On his future, Kettlewell said: "I spoke to one or two of the guys thereafter, just delighted with the 90 minutes, the result, the performance, and that's as far as we've gone.

"There has been no contact or conversation about what happens, and I'm not expecting it. I wasn't thinking that was going to be the case, whether it was win, lose or draw anyway, so for me, it's a case of getting up the road and trying to chill out for a little bit, to be brutally honest, because the last week has been chaos.

Blair Spittal scored Motherwell's second goal, a minute into the second half (SNS Group)

"I've been trying to work towards six points, which we've managed to achieve, but I think at some point there has to be a re-set in that as well.

"I think we'll pick that up again tomorrow, and see how the situation lies from there."

Follow Lanarkshire Live Sport on Twitter via @LanLiveSport, like us on Facebook or find us on Instagram for the latest sports news, pictures and video.

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