By SCOTT MULLEN

IT MAY have taken 13 different destinations to do it, but Lionel Ainsworth has finally found home at Motherwell.

The winger has been in more clubs than Peter Stringfellow over the years during a career that started out at Derby County before the long and winding round to Lanarkshire began.

Bournemouth, Halifax, Wycombe, Hereford, Watford, Huddersfield, Brentford, Shrewsbury, Burton-on-Trent, Rotherham and Aldershot have all been checked off the list for the well-travelled 27-year-old prior to his arrival at Fir Park back in late 2014.

Up to that point, the longest Ainsworth had been in the one place was for two years, and even then those spells were blighted by various loan moves.

Now he has signed a new contract at Motherwell that will extend his stint in claret and amber into 2017, it is clearly no hidden secret that he has found what he is looking for at Fir Park.

“I didn’t want to leave Motherwell, I had other options,” said Ainsworth, who became a dad back in April.

“My family are happy up here and have enjoyed Scotland the last two years. Last season was a disappointment, although the way it ended was brilliant. This year we are looking forward and hopefully we will have a good season.

“When you get bought three or four times you can’t help it, you’re sitting at clubs and you’re just getting paid when all you want to do is play football.

“I’ve played for a few clubs but this will keep me here for four years in total, and it could be even longer - I’m always looking for longer. Motherwell have been really kind to me these last two years and hopefully I’ve repaid the faith shown in me.”

Keeping Ainsworth was high on the list of priorities of Motherwell manager Ian Baraclough who saw his first-team squad almost chopped in half just days after thrashing Rangers in the SPFL Premiership play-off.

The winger was a key part of that success as he tormented the Ibrox club and Stuart McCall, the man who first brought him to Fir Park, over both legs.

It was a special for him, but it only served to underline an affinity with the Lanarkshire club that has been there from the moment he walked into Fir Park.

“The deal was sealed when I signed for Stuart McCall, when I looked around the club and saw the people I would be working with. It was brilliant,” said Ainsworth.

“I could have signed a two-year deal last year but only took the one so I knew I had to work hard for the two years I’ve got. I’m appreciative and so thankful and k6now I have to keep doing that because I want another two years and another two years.

“You don’t want to be in those situations [play-offs], but if that’s how you’re going to end it then it’s brilliant.

“We’ve want to look forward to pushing up the table, doing what we can do, and building the togetherness in the squad.”

Despite starting both play-off games for Motherwell, Ainsworth was forced at times to watch on from the bench as the going got tough for the Steelmen.

It led to the Englishman going to his manager on more than one occasion to seek advice to try and find his way back into the starting XI.

Now he has developed an understanding of the defensive side of the game Baraclough wants him to incorporate into his play, Ainsworth is ready to fight to stay in the team.

He said: “I’ve got to work hard and there will be new players coming in and pushing me but I know what I have to do to stay on that wing, or wherever the gaffer wants me to play.

“In my own head I know I don’t have to go and ask him what he wants. I know what he wants and that’s what I’ve got to go and try to give him.”