STEPHEN ROBINSON has confessed he didn’t want to be the man to take Motherwell down as he pondered becoming the club’s new manager two months ago. But the Northern Irishman has stressed the focus and desire from his players will not waver as they attempt to clinch Premiership safety tonight.

Motherwell were second-bottom of the table when Robinson took over as manager from Mark McGhee who had presided over a 7-2 hammering, a 3-0 defeat and a 5-1 humiliation in his last three games.

It hasn’t been the easiest job for his replacement to muster momentum in this Lanarkshire side as injuries, bad mistakes and inconsistent form have all played their part. Yet, after Saturday’s 1-0 victory away to Hamilton Accies, a victory this evening could save Motherwell from a relegation play-off place and preserve the top-flight status for Robinson and his charges.

“I definitely didn’t want to be the man who took them down,” said the Motherwell manager. “We’d won one game in 10 and conceded 27 goals so there were obviously problems. The team was second bottom so they weren’t having a super season by any means. But it was something that crossed my mind when the job was offered to me because that would’ve gone down on my CV no matter what, whether I was partly to blame for it or wholly to blame for it.

“I was confident that I could turn this round, though, and we’re taking steps towards that. Our fans were amazing at Hamilton. I hadn’t seen that response before and I suppose the seriousness of the situation attracted a few more along but they were fantastic in a game which didn’t give them much to shout about.

“What people ask for is that players give everything – dive into every tackle, win every tackle, run that little bit harder – and we did that, even if we didn’t show our quality on the ball.”

A victory tonight at Fir Park against an already-safe Kilmarnock would not be enough on its own to spare Motherwell’s nerves being worn away on Saturday in Inverness. However, bettering Hamilton’s result in Dingwall this evening would put them out of trouble.

For all the stars to align, Well would need to boldly go where they haven’t gone before this season and record two wins back to back. Robinson is confident tonight could be the night.

He said: “We haven’t had back-to-back wins all season – there’s been no consistency or momentum and that’s why we are where we are – but this would be the perfect time to start. We’ve put in some good performances and dominated possession against decent sides in recent games but not taken a point. I’d rather have 1% possession and win the match.

“Psychologically, it was a massive lift. There was never a problem with the morale or atmosphere around the place because the boys have been right behind what we were doing.

“They [Kilmarnock] will come with a more relaxed attitude, which will help their decision-making. They won’t be bothered about making mistakes and you could see on Saturday that our lads were – they were frightened at times but that’s human nature.

“We have to cope with that pressure but we’re just focused on starting brightly and taking the game to them.”

While Motherwell are still fighting for their lives, Lee McCulloch is poised to become Kilmarnock manager on a permanent basis after securing a 25th consecutive season in the top flight. It is expected that he will complete a deal before the week is out, once certain conditions are ironed out.

However, although Killie are safe and on course to finish seventh he won’t ease up on the club where his career started.

McCulloch said: “It’s obviously still tight down there. It’s just good to be in our position at the other side. We can’t afford to look at Motherwell’s situation. We’ve just got to look at ourselves and try to pick up another three points. The standards won’t be dropping from our end.”

He added: “The future really is good for Kilmarnock. It’s trying to get the right blend of youth and experience.

“We’ve got that at the moment but I still think we could be doing with a wee bit more experience around the young ones to help them out in pressure situations like the one we were in.

“As well as all of the young ones who played against Inverness we’ve also got Greg Taylor who missed the weekend through suspension, Innes Cameron, who is a Scotland under 17 international who’s still at school, and William Graham – a first year apprentice. He’s a fantastic player.”