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John Sutton wants to help Motherwell make history – and then stick around to be a part of it.

Recent wins against Aberdeen and Hamilton have propelled the Steelmen back into the top half of the SPL, a position from which Sutton believes ‘Well could challenge for a European spot once more.

It would be an incredible fourth consecutive continental campaign for the club, and a new contract would see John Sutton be a part of it.

“We’ve responded really well from the defeat to Rangers, and after a couple of wins we are now looking above ourselves – and a win against St. Mirren will take us into fourth place,” the striker noted.

“The top six has always been our goal. If we can do that then you get to play the teams around you – and there is a great chance to get back into Europe.

“It would surely be unprecedented for Motherwell to qualify for Europe so regularly.”

The air of positivity undoubtedly stems from the recent two wins, some nice flowing football and the impact of new signing Francis Jeffers.

Naturally, as a striker, Sutton is delighted to have the former Arsenal striker at the club alongside him – and to be a part of McCall’s attacking mentality.

The ‘Well front-man continued: “Franny has been great since signing. From the first training session you could see that his movement is very good and I think we link up pretty well.

“Hopefully the longer we play together, the more that will develop. We now have a bit of depth too, with Jamie Murphy playing behind the strikers. We also have Esteban looking sharp and Bob McHugh coming back from injury.

“Everything is looking up for the club.”

Like Jeffers, Sutton’s contract runs out in the summer and the 27-year old is keen to get the ball rolling on a new deal.

He added, “My contract runs out in the summer, so I’ll be looking to get something sorted; I love it here,” the bustling forward confessed. “It’s one of those things you hope will sort itself if you can keep playing well and scoring goals.

“But – with injuries and having a family – it is something that is in the back of your mind. I love it here.”

Stuart McCall is desperate to claim his third consecutive win of a ‘season shaping’ seven days for Motherwell.

‘Well had endured a run of just one win from twelve SPL games before the success at Pittodrie last Tuesday, but after two wins on the trot the Steelmen are back at the right end of the table.

And the manager now wants to make it three wins from three and consolidate the club’s poition in the top half.

“I said, after the game at Ibrox, that the following three games would shape our season. We have won two of those three games and a win against St. Mirren is vital if we want to finish in the top six,” McCall rallied.

“It’s such a tight league. You look at the St Johnstone game – which had 0-0 written all over it – and we lost to a soft penalty. Then we play well against Kilmarnock and somehow lose. Things can change so quickly in the SPL.

“But St. Mirren will be desperate to bounce back. They will feel hard done by after their own defeat and the weekend and I’m sure the manager and the players will be looking for a reaction.

“I know St. Mirren came here and lost 3-1, but we scored two late goals that day – and we are under no illusions about how tough the match will be.

Steelmen fans have been delighted with the last two performances by their team; one display of flowing football to defeat Aberdeen and a gritty victory over Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton.

It seems as though things are clicking into place for the new boss, climbing back into the top six in the past seven days.

The gaffer continued: “I’ve had a great reaction from the backroom staff and the players from day one.

“I tell the players to just go out and express themselves, but the more games they play and the more they learn about me the better things will get.

“We are learning all the time – you need more than two months to make everything click in to place, but we are getting there.

“You take confidence every time you come off the pitch with a win. But the recent games have gone – we’ll take the confidence and the things we have learned in to our next match, which is a very tough one against St. Mirren.”

The ‘Well gaffer was coy on any potential new deal for striker John Sutton, whose deal expires in the summer.

Sutton has been in superb form since McCall took the reins and the former Bradford boss cautiously admitted he would like to keep the former Spurs trainee for longer.

“Sutty has done well – I’ve been pleased with him,” the 46-year old praised. “Not only has he chipped in with goals, but he’s a good type – a really good sort to have around the place.

“We’ll be looking to tie up players in the next month, but I still need some time to assess everything.

“Hopefully John will be one of those that we can keep here a little longer.”

The fifteenth edition of the Motherwell Matchday Magazine is on sale this Wednesday when St Mirren visit Fir Park.

After back-to-back wins against Aberdeen and Hamilton, Stuart McCall’s men will be hoping to make it three from three but face a tough battle against Saints who are battling for their SPL survival.

And the featured-packed, 64-page programme will again be on sale with all the latest from Fir Park with every reader getting a free Panini sticker album and packet of stickers.

This week, Stuart McCall looks back at the two recent wins and accesses our chances against Danny Lennon’s men.

There’s a fantastic 8-page interview with former Northern Irish International Steve Jones who talks candidly about his aims and objectives in his remaining few months at Fir Park.

We have a ten-page section dedicated to our visitors, St Mirren, including a player-by-player account of the Buddies side. Peter Elder also takes us back through time to recall some of the good and, erm, not so good encounters between the sides.

Alan Temple examines the battle between two clubs with Hampden demons to exorcise. The latest bout of Brainiacs is the remaining Semi Final contest between the young upstart, Jamie Murphy, who takes on the old fox Stephen Craigan. Who will get through to face Darren Randolph in the Final? You’ll need to pick up your copy to find out.

And that’s not all… We look back at the 2-1 win at Pittodrie and the 1-0 success against Hamilton last weekend.

The Supporters Survey publicised on the Official ‘Well website is available in hard copy as well, the latest commercial news as well as all the latest ticket information for our next six matches.

The programme, priced at £3, will be available in the ‘Well Shop with sellers in and around the ground from about 6pm.

Referee for Wednesday’s Clydesdale Bank Premier League clash with St Mirren at Fir Park will be Steve Conroy.

Conroy, who has been a senior official for almost a decade, has been surprisingly absent from most top-team games this campaign.

Indeed by the time he took charge of Motherwell 4-0 Scottish Cup demolition of Dundee in January, he had only handled one top-league game. Since then, he has had games at Kilmarnock, Inverness and Easter Road.

Despite his quiet season, he’ll be a familiar face to most Motherwell fans having officiated three games last season.

The first was Hibs’ 3-1 win at Fir Park in September which was followed by another 3-1 reverse, this time at the hands of St Johnstone on Boxing Day; incidentally, Jim Gannon’s last match in charge at Fir Park.

His most recent was about a year ago, when he was the man in the middle for Motherwell’s terrific 3-0 win at Pittodrie thanks to a Lukas Jutkiewicz goal and a brace from John Sutton.

His overall record in Motherwell games is a bit of a mix bag for the Fir Parkers. Motherwell have won seven, drawn two and lost eight of the seventeen games Conroy has taken charge of. Nineteen goals have been scored whilst twenty have hit the back of the ‘Well net.

In those games, 40 players have been cautioned, fourteen wearing Claret and Amber, whilst three have been dismissed (Francisco Miranda of St Mirren in 2008/09, Scott Wilson of Dunfermline in 2005/06 and, most recently, Leigh Griffiths of Dundee in the aforementioned Cup clash last month).

Conroy will be ably assisted by Charlie Smith and Ross Haswell with Anthony Law on fourth official duties.

Following the recent launch of the Supporters Advisory Committee, the group have launched a survey designed to gather your opinions.

A committee member said, “We wants to know your big picture gripes and ideas, views on reconstruction, safe standing, television and the like. In response the club have promised to be transparent on their position and policies in whatever we identify and where possible and appropriate, use their influence to push forward change.

“Importantly though we also want to work in areas where the club have the ability to make the changes we desire. Stewarding, ticket allocations, pricing, initiatives, club policies, facilities, match day to name but a few. The list is really up to you to help us identify. These are really the most exciting opportunities for you the supporters and where we can most likely see some quick wins.”

You can fill in the survey either online at the link below, in the pull out which will be in both the St Mirren and Celtic programmes or pop into the Chapman Building where plenty are available for uplift.

CLICK HERE TO FILL IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE

Stuart McCall was pleased to complete a professional victory against Hamilton – and insists the penalty which won all three points was just.

Bustling John Sutton spun Martin Canning ten minutes before half-time, and the big English striker appeared to be dragged back.

The 27-year old dusted himself down to covert the decisive goal himself.

“I haven’t had a look at a replay yet but first look at it was that it was a penalty. I thought the defender pulled him to the ground,” the Motherwell gaffer recalled.

“From my angle I thought Sutton had turned him and the ref had a decision about what colour of card. When it happened, I was certainly looking for a penalty.”

If anything, the one-goal margin didn’t do justice to a calm, assured performance from the Steelmen. McCall’s side dominated and could have won by more against a fairly timid, defensive Hamilton Accies setup.

But the Motherwell boss insist that the only thing which mattered was the three points as the men in claret and amber made it two consecutive SPL victories.

“We said in the week that we would take a one nil from that type of game a derby produces,” McCall admitted. “Our record against them this season hasn’t been great – but I think overall their keeper has pulled off some excellent saves and ours has had nothing to do.

“On chances and possession it was merited and hard earned win. It was what I thought the game would be, they came here with three centre backs and man marked Jamie Murphy. It was hard to break down but we had some decent passing moves.

“The bottom line is a victory; we played far better against Kilmarnock and got nothing.”

With Dundee United and Kilmarnock both succumbing to defeats on Saturday afternoon it was a fruitful afternoon for the Steelmen. ‘Well are now only two points behind fourth-placed Kilmarnock in an increasingly congested SPL table.

And with his squad gradually getting back to full fitness, McCall and all Motherwell fans have reasons to be cheerful, and increasingly positive.

“I think for the first time I have had players available which has given me a bit of a selection dilemma and I welcome that,” McCall smiled. “Humphrey came on and showed the threat he can be and it is nice to have options for Wednesday.
 
“We need to go out and win the game on Wednesday [against St. Mirren] and put pressure on the teams above.
 
“It shows how quickly things can turn round in football, but you can’t take anything for granted. I was the lowest I have ever been this time last Saturday. You have to look forward, and I think the players deserve a lot of credit for doing that.”

Pictures from the 1-0 win over Hamilton Accies in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League at Fir Park.

These action shots and more are available to buy online at www.motherwellpics.com.

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Well, what can you say about today? I said at our weekly press conference on Thursday that the main aim of any derby match is to win and take the three points.
 
With that in mind, it is mission accomplished! If or when you watch the game back on BBC Alba you’ll see that we created a number of chances and only the performance of their goalkeeper, Thomas Cerny, has kept them in it. In truth, we should’ve been out of sight by the interval and because we weren’t, it was a little nervier that perhaps it had to be in the closing stages.
 
That being said, Darren Randolph has not really had anything to do. Speaking of Darren, I talked a few weeks ago about the keeper only having a couple of cleansheets left to equal John Ruddy’s record from last year. Well, I am delighted to say with this afternoon shutout, he now has fifteen, the same as last season; let’s hope he can break that record on Wednesday night against St Mirren?
 
Whilst we are on the subject of defending and keeping goals out, how good was big Shaun Hutchinson today? Hutch, alongside Stephen Craigan, was excellent and kept a tight rein on their only striker, which restricted Accies to just one shot on target the whole afternoon.
 
I opted to start with the same formation as Tuesday night which I think worked for the most part. It’s hard on the likes of Stevie Hammell and Chris Humphrey but today was the first time since I’ve arrived at the club that I’ve had a bit of a selection dilemma. It was always going to be a difficult game against Accies, the way they play is different to Aberdeen but credit to our lads, I think they managed to handle it and were the better team for most of the game.
 
Looking ahead to Wednesday, Steven Saunders and Steve Jones are getting ever closer to a return and will probably start training again this week. That means we could have another two bodies pushing for a first-team slot. It’s a problem, but any manager will tell you, it’s a great problem to have.
 
Just finally I want to say thank you to the supporters at Fir Park today. I thought the backing the team received was magnificent – even when things were getting a wee bit nervy and they were throwing everything into the area, we had chants and shouts encouraging the team and that really helps. I keep repeating that we’ve got a young team, who are learning, and the positive backing you are giving them will really help their development.
 
I want the players to repay you with good, honest, hard-working performances and I thought we got that today. I’ve been told in the past that Hamilton have maybe outfought Motherwell in recent derbies, well, when the going got tough this afternoon, I felt we dug in both on and off the park so well done to you all.
 
Keep it up on Wednesday night, maybe try and encourage a few of your friends and family to join you if you can, and hopefully we can pick up another three points and really put the pressure on Kilmarnock in 4th.
 
Forever Claret and Amber

Stuart McCall
Manager