KEITH LASLEY, the Motherwell captain, believes his side have done enough over the past few seasons to be afforded time to clamber out of the hole in which they find themselves after just nine games of the new SPFL Premiership campaign.

The Lanarkshire club are second-bottom of the table on seven points following a grim run of form that has brought just one win in eight fixtures. Lasley accepts better things are expected of the side following two consecutive years of coming second to Celtic, but he believes past successes ought to provide some breathing space as his manager, Stuart McCall, endeavours to show that his bubble has not burst.

"It has been a poor run and the performances haven't been good enough," Lasley said. "Simple as that. Football is an industry where there's not much patience shown at any time, but there's a confidence among us. I hope we've earned a bit of leeway given what we've achieved over the last couple of years, but we know that it is all about the here and now in football.

"We know we've achieved some good things in recent years and taken the plaudits, so we have to now take the criticism on the chin."