Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson always believed his side would kick-start their season even if he did not expect to be chasing a sixth consecutive league win.

Robinson's men host Hearts on Sunday looking to make it 18 points out of a possible 18 in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

The Steelmen have swiftly gone from being perilously close to the relegation equation to chasing a top-six place and have done so with largely the same set of players.

But, crucially, wingers Gboly Ariyibi and Jake Hastie have come in to the squad to allow Robinson to switch formation from a 3-5-2 to a 4-3-3, and the extra width has added a new dimension to their play.

The last time Motherwell won six top-flight games in a row was in 2014 – when they beat Hearts 1-0 at Tynecastle – but their previous run was way back in 1937 when they clinched a sixth win with an 8-0 victory over Celtic.

There was doom and gloom around Fir Park when Motherwell lost to Ross County in the William Hill Scottish Cup last month but Robinson was always confident they would head in the right direction.

"Maybe not a sixth win but I always had belief in the players we brought in, I always had belief in the guys that were here that maybe weren't playing to their top form," he said.

"I couldn't change things until we got the personnel in, and things don't happen overnight.

"Unfortunately when we lose the Ross County game, the negative ones are always heard more than the positive ones, unfortunately in life in general.

"But I think people can see what we are trying to do. There is a long way to go, there is still a lot of improvement. I think we have players who can still play better than they are doing. We just have to keep chipping away at what we are doing."

Robinson, who will be without Ross McCormack (calf) and has a major doubt over Tom Aldred (ankle), added: "It's just about continuing to do what we do and continuing to do what we have done.

"There will be ups and downs but if we keep doing the simple things well, and playing with a confidence and a freshness that we have done in the last couple of weeks then we will be OK."