Shane Blaney says Motherwell dug in well for a priceless win against Premiership leaders Rangers at Ibrox – and their historic success has them looking up the table at a top six spot.
Dan Casey’s second goal of the season earned a first league win in Govan for Motherwell in 27 years, adding to Theo Bair’s early strike.
A James Tavernier penalty on the hour could have put the Steelmen on the ropes, but it took them just 15 minutes to find their clincher.
Irishman Casey, restored to the side for his first 90 minutes after climbing off the bench in the 3-1 midweek win at Livingston and defeat to Celtic last Sunday, says everyone played their part in repeating a feat last achieved on May 5, 1997 when Owen Coyle’s double did the damage.
And the Steelmen now sit two points off the top half of the table in eighth spot, having been deep in relegation danger earlier in the season on a run of 15 games without a win.
Blaney told Lanarkshire Live Sport : “I’m delighted. It’s a huge result for us and it’s a great feeling.
“It’s something we spoke about in the changing room, straight after the Livingston game, and it’s time to look up.
“We had confidence throughout the week in training, so we’ve come into this game in good spirits, really believed we could get something, and we have done, so it’s absolutely brilliant for us.
“With these games against the likes of Rangers and Celtic you’re going to have to defend your box very well, you’re going to give away chances that could possibly be scored.
“But you can’t put your head down and think ‘we’re in bother here’, you need to dig in and go again.
“There’s no point, when we go 1-1, sitting in and thinking ‘we need to protect this completely’ – we’ve still got the players, as you’ve seen, the likes of Blair Spittal, Theo Bair and Jack Vale breaking.
“We’ve still got the players to hurt teams, and even when it was 2-1 we still had chances where we could have gone in behind them again.
“It was a good performance all round, and we all dug in from the front to the back – I think everyone definitely played their part, and it was huge.”
The Steelmen have a week off with Scottish Cup action taking place and return to the field on March 16 for a huge clash at home to Neil Warnock’s struggling Aberdeen.