Graham Alexander denies that Motherwell are looking to close in on Hearts in the Premiership and insists the league table is irrelevant at this point in the season.
Motherwell sit seven points behind their rivals going into tomorrow's clash at Tynecastle, but Alexander sees it only as a chance for a win and three more points.
That has almost been a mantra for the Motherwell boss this season, and he says he will only focus on the league table when the dust has settled at the end of this season.
He said: "I'll only talk about the league table when it's defined, that's the most important thing for me.
"It is irrelevant, it's about winning as many points as possible and seeing where you are.
"Nobody can give you a defined number of points to finish in a certain position, it varies from year to year, so we need to put our foot to the floor, win as many as we can.
"As long as we get to the end of the season and we believe we've done the best that we possibly can, then we'll be happy and content, but we're not at that stage yet so there's no point in me talking about that.
"My focus is on the next game, on the next three points that are available for us to compete for and fight for, and that won't change.
"It's nice for the players and the supporters for us to be competitive.
"We want to feel that we're a competitive club and that we can compete with our opponents in the Premiership.
"We've done that over the course of this season so far, but there are a lot of games to go and a lot of points to be won.
"We know how tough the division is, we know there is really good quality throughout the levels of it, but I believe that we've contributed to a really competitive league this season, in a good way, and that's what we have to try and maintain."
Motherwell will assess defender Bevis Mugabi, but Alexander says Mark O'Hara and Ricki Lamie are still out, while Liam Donnelly is suspended, following his red card in the 0-0 draw with Hibs.
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.
