ANDY Rose may be leaving Motherwell with a heavy heart, but the midfielder could hardly have gone out on a higher note.

Rose signed off his Fir Park career after helping Stephen Robinson’s men to a crucial three points in Saturday’s Lanarkshire derby, and will now head off to play for Vancouver Whitecaps in the MLS.

But he believes he is leaving Motherwell in fine fettle after an 18-month adventure that has taken in cup finals and huge ups and downs on the field, and he expects the squad he is leaving to now make their way towards the top six.

“I always held out hope that I would get the chance to make one final appearance,” Rose said.

“I’ve been training really well, and I wanted to be involved, although I always respect and understand my manager’s decisions.

“But I really wanted one more game. I was able to pay my respects to our supporters with a decent performance and three more points.

“We’re nine points clear of St Mirren and that’s the reality of it. For me, as I leave the club, I can say quite honestly that they should be battling for the top six.”

Rose says that Motherwell’s result will be the first one he looks for every weekend from now on, and he is sure that an upturn in fortunes awaits after a disappointing first half of their season.

“There’s a lot of hard work goes in on a daily basis and there are a lot of good people at Fir Park and it is people who make good clubs,” he said. “I’ve met some great people in my time here and it’s been an absolute joy to represent Motherwell.

“I’ll be keeping a keen eye on things in the New Year hoping – and expecting – to see them push on and head into that top six. I’ll try and watch the next derby on Fox Sports or whatever.

“Any time you leave a club in a good way, with the respect of everyone - and I’ve been treated fantastically well here – then you leave with a heavy heart.

“Consequently, Motherwell’s will honestly be the first score I look out for every weekend. I’ll keep in touch with these guys for years to come because my time here has just been a pleasure.

“There have been lots of fantastic memories. Last season was unique because of the two cup finals but, even more important than that are the people you meet on the way and the friendships you make, the fun at training and the fond memories I’ll always have of these guys.

“In that regard, it’s been brilliant, and I will definitely miss the place. I’ve no fears for them either because there are a lot of good players in that dressing room and I know that the manager will be bringing in a few new players to freshen things up next month.

“A lot of things have gone against us so far, but luck does tend to even themselves out over the course of a season so I’ve no doubt that it will pick up for the lads.”

The win over Hamilton gives Motherwell a seven-point cushion over their local rivals below them in 10th place heading into the winter break, and they did it the hard way.

Not only did they go into the game with a huge injury list after suffering three concussions in the Boxing Day loss to Kilmarnock, but they fell behind early to a goal from Dougie Imrie.

Their response was immediate though, as Tom Aldred got the equaliser before the defender remarkably also went on to grab the winner 13 minutes from time.

“The biggest thing was getting three points,” Rose said. “At this stage of the season, with where we are as a group and the type of atmosphere here, it was always going to be a difficult contest.

“The most important issue for us was to find a way to win. We’ve faced a bit of adversity in recent weeks and lost some key figures, but this showed how strong this squad is, especially the way we came back from being a goal down.

“Beating our local rivals was a massive result.”