MOTHERWELL rising star Lee Erwin is set to pen a new deal to keep him at Fir Park.

The 21-year-old has caught the eye for Well this season with a number of fine performances both leading the line and out wide.

He impressed again last Friday night as a tremendous solo goal and assist helped beat Kilmarnock 3-1 and keep the Lanarkshire side's survival hopes alive.

Now the club look set to repay him with a new deal.

Seventeen first-team stars are out of contract next month, with talks already underway with some about extending their stay beyond the summer.

Erwin is one of them, and SportTimes can exclusively reveal that Motherwell manager Ian Baraclough is hopeful terms can be tied up imminently.

The former Scotland Under-19 internationalist has been at his local side since he was a young boy and has previously told of his desire to stay.

And Baraclough has warned it will take a sizeable fee to land his services.

Baraclough said: "We have spoken to him. He's been at the club a long time and we want to keep him here.

"He wants to stay, he knows he is better off here playing his football. Lee is getting a regular run of games and is scoring goals, he is a real handful.

"If someone wants to come and take him it will take a lot of money. I don't believe we are far away.

"We have had a lot to deal with going into games and it's something that we need to balance up as to when the right time to do it is.

"He's keen, we're keen and I'm hopeful it can be done."

Erwin was the brightest of many highlights for Motherwell in a victory that set up a monumental weekend in the SPFL Premiership dogfight.

Knowing nothing but a win would do, Scott McDonald, Lionel Ainsworth and the young, talented forward all found the back of the net to close the gap on their opponents Killie to just three points.

Twenty four hours later a shock win for St Mirren at Ross County meant the Staggies are also just three ahead with six points left to play for in a nail-biting finale.

Baraclough was delighted with his team's result, not only because of the impact on them, but for stretching Kilmarnock's losing streak to seven games, the worst in their history.

"We knew it was going to be ropey for the first 15 or so minutes until the game calmed down.

"When it did we got the ball down, played some decent stuff, trusted each other and created opportunities," said the Motherwell manager.

"This puts the pressure on Kilmarnock, and that's what we set out to do. We knew we were capable of it and we managed to execute what we wanted to do.

"We scored good goals when they presented themselves and defended really well against their big lads who attack the ball really well.

"It was a really strong team performance."

The Well boss was also keen to look ahead with positivity as well as back at the disaster his team managed to avoid.

"We knew we had to win the game," said Baraclough. "When it's that clear you know you must attack players and be positive. We also dug in and were organised.

"Last year to finish second Motherwell had to win three games and they did, and there are a lot of players still in that dressing room who know it's the same script this time.

"We have to rely on teams dropping points, we know that. But we know the games that Kilmarnock have to go and play aren't easy, so hopefully we can pull them even further in this week."