MOTHERWELL captain Peter Hartley believes that there are more exciting talents set to emerge from the Fir Park youth system this season.

Jake Hastie has headed to Rangers and had it not been for a lurking injury David Turnbull would have been plying his trade at Celtic this term. And Hartley credits not just the academy system that allows players to graduate into first-team football at Motherwell but also a dressing room that knows how to stop them getting ahead of themselves too quickly.

“It’s been a bit of a transition period with the way we play but we have been in the top four teams in the league with our form since January,” reflected Hartley. “The manager has signed a few new players and there are a lot of quality youngsters coming through.

“We have the kind of dressing room that will help these youngsters keep their feet on the ground and they will go on to brighter and better things. You’ll see a lot of the likes of James Scott this season. Time will tell. A lot of players don’t fulfil potential but if he stays fit and working hard then he will definitely be one to watch.

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“James hit the headlines with the Celtic game but he’ll learn from that. Genuinely, it was an honest mistake. He was played at a noisy Celtic Park and just continued running. He never even scored the goal in the end but he got the blame! But he’ll live and learn.

“The good thing about Motherwell is we bring these young players through and develop them. We have a lot of talent like the lad Reece McAlear who went to Norwich. He’s going to have a fantastic career but unfortunately we couldn’t keep hold of him a bit longer. But there are a good few more who are coming through and the sky is the limit for them. The club lives and breathes by producing players like Jack Hastie and David Turnbull.”

Motherwell’s start to the season has been impressive with an unblemished League Cup campaign. It augers well for the campaign that lies ahead with early indications suggesting that Stephen Robinson’s side look capable of pushing themselves into the top half of the table.

Hartley, however, is wary of reading too much into the initial results.

“You can only beat what’s in front of you but we’ve seen a few Premiership clubs slipping up so we’ve done all right,” he said. It’s been a good pre-season, we’ve kept four clean sheets and scored a few goals, so you can’t ask for more.

“Our holding midfielder Liam Donnelly is our top scorer so we must be doing something right! He’s on fire but we’ve had a lot of possession in games and turned it in to goals. It’s not easy when you’re playing teams with 10 men behind the ball but we seem to have been able to create a lot of chances and put them away.

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“It’s been pleasing seeing everything clicking into place but there’s a long season ahead of us.

“It’s catch 22 sometimes. You can will all four games in the cup and get a little bit over-confident. We don’t have that type of dressing room, to be honest, but I’ve been at teams where it’s been the opposite. At Plymouth we lost all our pre-season games and ended up in the play-off final.

“The target has to be top six and finishing with more points than last season.”

And any success that Motherwell do find might well result in interest in Robinson.

“I’ve been with him for two seasons now and he’s been top class,” said Hartley. “There is no doubt there will be interest in the gaffer. He’s still young as a manager himself but he has developed. His preparation and training methods are different class. He knows when to push or hold back players.

“We’ve got a fantastic team and staff and if we can keep everyone together we will definitely improve and get better each season.”