Brown (left) and Knox have guided Motherwell into European contention

Motherwell manager Craig Brown believes his side have "a great chance" of achieving a European place after beating Hearts at Tynecastle.

"Fourth place would get us there," Brown told BBC Scotland.

"We've a very good chance of being fifth because we've distanced ourselves from Hearts.

"If Hearts do manage to win their last three, that'll be three points off Hibs, so we'll be pleased about that in terms of getting the fourth place."

Motherwell are a point ahead of Hibernian, who play Rangers on Sunday, and seven ahead of sixth-placed Hearts.

"We've given ourselves a great chance now of getting European football at Motherwell next year and all credit to the players and the terrific support we had.

"They've been very, very patient, they've been so supportive, even although we've had a couple of indifferent away results, but everywhere we go, the Motherwell fans are there.

It was a delight to see Michael Fraser having a clean sheet today Craig Brown

"They might not be the biggest away support, but they are very, very supportive and, even when you're behind, they are giving you good backing, so I want to thank them for their backing and assure them that we'll do the very best in the next three matches."

Goals by Steven Saunders and John Sutton gave Well their win in Edinburgh and ended a run of four straight defeats.

"In all the SPL matches, the first goal is a critical one and, if you do get the first one, it gives you a great platform, something to work from," said Brown.

"We got the first goal; away from home it's important too to get the first one because it gets the crowd a bit unsettled.

"Although we were having a bit of a decline in terms of results, we weren't in decline in terms of performance because we played exceptionally well at Celtic Park, we played exceptionally well last week against Dundee United, and we gifted goals to the opposition and you can't do that at this level.

"I felt we played well, not any better than we did in the previous games that we lost, but we did get the breaks today. We managed to scramble the first one in, but I think, in play, we deserved to win the game."

Brown was also delighted for goalkeeper Michael Fraser, whose mistakes against Dundee United helped the Tayside club to a win at Fir Park last week.

"I think Michael was unfortunate against Celtic with a couple of corner kicks and then last week, many people saw what happened," added Brown.

"He held up his hand and he felt culpable last week against Dundee United.

"But he's a good lad, he's a good goalkeeper. It was great that he got a clean sheet today and that, of course, was a platform for us to get a victory.

"I noticed the lads going in afterwards saying 'well done Michael' and, after the abuse and the criticism that he got, which I think was a bit harsh last week, it was a delight to see him having a clean sheet today."

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