Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says it’s irrelevant that Hibs are bottom of the Premiership, and expects a battle for points at Fir Park this afternoon.

Kettlewell says the clash in ML1 gives his side a chance to show a response after theri 2-1 defeat at Ross County last weekend, and wants much more action, having analysed that there were fewer than 30 minutes of actual game-time in Dingwall.

But he says Hibs battling back to a last-gasp 3-3 with high-flying Aberdeen at Easter Road on Tuesday evening shows the Edinburgh side’s menace.

Kettlewell said: “I watched the game on Tuesday, a dramatic, entertaining game with some really good goals.

“I think you can see the threat they carry. I don’t care what anybody wants to say about league position, points tally, whatever – we understand that Hibs are a really big club in this country, we understand the level of investment that goes into their squad, they carry some real threats at the top end of the pitch, which I think they showed the other night.

“I suppose for anybody who questions the situation there at Hibs, the fact that they go to the 96th minute and they’re trying to get themselves back involved in the game, gives us a clear indication of what we will face here on Saturday.

“It’s massively important for us to get a response to the result.

“We always try and show that character, we always want to show a reply or a response to what we feel was a poor result, a poor second half.

“Everything in this league comes down to goals. Conceding the first goal, allows the game to flow – or not flow, as it were. We scored, albeit coming off a bad spell in the game, to make it 2-1, and you want to get the game started as quickly as you can, but we waited nearly six minutes.

“We hope for a less chaotic situation.

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“This week we just want to get our heads down, make sure we understand that the game is at 3pm, who our opponent is.

“No excuses, we’ll take it on the chin, but we want to try and give the best account of ourselves on Saturday.”

Kettlewell wasn’t impressed with how little actual game-time there was in the Highlands last weekend.

He said: “What I sincerely hope is that I don’t encounter a game again this week where the dead-time blows my mind. It must be some sort of record, 61 minutes 20 seconds was the dead-time in that game on Saturday.

“I’m not trying to put anybody under any pressure here, but that can’t happen, that needs to be addressed.

“We as players, coaches, managers, have a responsibility to go and put on a spectacle, but we need to let the game run, so we can get an opportunity to do that, and try and build into that.

“There was a spell when it was hitting five and six minutes after we had scored, where it’s not that you know the momentum is gone, you still believe you can get into the game, but I must admit I was starting to get demoralised.

“I love football, but it’s not football if there’s 61 minutes 20 seconds dead-time in a game.

“I’m hopeful of a far more flowing game, one that players get a chance to go and express themselves, and we’ll see whether we come out on the right side of that.”

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