Motherwell's rapid start was key to breaking 15-game Premiership winless run, says boss

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell reckons a snappy start led to them beating Livingston 3-1 in a performance that was full of character.Blair Spittal’s 14th-minute opener was added to by a Theo Bair double either side of Scott Pittman’s volley, as the three points were secured within the first half at Fir Park.The win moved the Steelmen up to eighth in the Premiership, despite being their first three points in 16 games, and Kettlewell says they had to dig deep.He said: “It’s not so much a sense of relief, I just feel that we got what we deserved today.“Everyone has spoken about the poor run we’ve been on, and you need to show massive character to get yourself out of that.“I thought our start to the game was indicative of where we were today and what the players were pouring into the game, and everyone with that one cause - which was break this cycle, break this poor run of form, and give ourselves a chance to try and move up the table.“The only way we could do that today was defending better than we had done, switching on better than we had done.“From my side of things it was very purposeful in going with three strikers and that bit of mobility at the top end of the pitch, where we felt that we could try and expose Livingston, and it’s something that we tried to play to.“I feel it worked, and we got a lot of joy from it.“The second half wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t what we would all want to see.“We would rather we had created more chances and had a little bit more control of the game, but it’s difficult.“We defended well.

I would like us to be that wee bit more in control, but when you find yourself on this run, the three points was always going to be the most important thing.”Kettlewell was pleased with the three strikes,