Motherwell 3-0 Hamilton Academical

Stephen Robinson said some Motherwell players gave him "food for thought" in the defeat of Hamilton Academical.

Nadir Ciftci's brace and Tom Aldred's goal helped the Steelmen finish seventh in the Premiership before next week's Scottish Cup final against Celtic.

"A lot of our players came in and did very well," said Well boss Robinson.

Martin Canning's Accies ended level with play-off bound Partick Thistle but ahead on goal difference, and he says rebuilding will be a "big job".

With next Saturday's cup final at Hampden looming, Motherwell made eight changes to their side. Injury deprived Hamilton of David Templeton and Ali Crawford, and the atmosphere around the match was decidedly end-of-season.

Still, Motherwell would make the better fist of the first half.

January capture Aldred broke his Motherwell duck

Eighteen-year-old David Turnbull forced a save from Accies goalkeeper Ryan Fulton, after a neat one-two with Ciftci.

And it would be Ciftci who would give the Steelmen the lead. Fulton did well to save a header from Ross MacLean, but he spilled the ball and Ciftci fired home in what was probably his last appearance for Motherwell, with his loan spell from Celtic coming to an end.

It was almost 2-0 before the half was out, but from a corner Aldred failed to get his effort on target.

The second half was an even tamer affair until Ciftci decided to conjure up a moment of inspiration.

He looked to be going nowhere in the Accies penalty box but turned his marker before poking the ball past Fulton to make it 2-0 and bring the home crowd to their feet. It was very unorthodox and very Ciftci.

Moments later from a free-kick Motherwell made it 3-0. Richard Tait knocked the ball on to the back post and Aldred converted for his first Motherwell goal.

'A special season already'

Ciftci, who cannot play against his parent club next weekend, almost signed off his Motherwell spell with a hat-trick, his shot from 30 yards cracking off the crossbar.

Robinson, whose side lost November's League Cup final to Celtic, said of the Lanarkshire derby win: "It could have been a lot more [than 3-0]. I thought we were very good at times today.

Motherwell and Robinson will be back at the national stadium next weekend

"I think people questioned when I signed Nadir Ciftci. He's a super boy, he's fitted in brilliantly here and you could see his quality on show for everyone today.

"I've got an idea of how we want to play against Celtic but there's definitely people who gave me food for thought and competition for places on the bench. What it also does is show you may have things in your own ranks you don't have to go out and spend money on.

"It's been a special season already. We broke the club record of 20 clean sheets, we've given six academy graduates a debut, which has been overlooked slightly. We've got the two cup finals and we finished seventh. Considering our budget and the financial disparity between some of the teams I think it has been a special season but we can go and make it an incredible season by winning the cup."

Canning's Hamilton went into the game at Fir Park all but safe with Partick Thistle three points and 13 goals worse off. However, Thistle's 1-0 defeat of Dundee took them to within nine goals of Accies and the Jags will face Championship runners-up Livingston in the Premiership play-off final.

Hamilton's boss has watched his side pick up just one win from their past 10 games

"It's going to be big," Canning said of his expected summer rebuilding." Today was all the players we have got fit. When you look at the boys that didn't play, the majority will move on anyway. There's a big job in the summer to get the squad strong enough.

"We have got a lot of good young players coming through but those boys need a bit of time.

"If you look at the boys that we have lost that have come through the academy - Michael Devlin, Greg Docherty, Lewis Ferguson, Louis Longridge, Grant Gillespie, Ali Crawford - these guys know what Hamilton is all about, they have been here a long time and the next group are coming.

"Ronan Hughes played today. Ross Cunningham, Ryan Tierney, Jack Breen, Lewis Smith - they are coming, but it's maybe a bit soon for them so we need to get the work done to bring the players into let these kids become good Premier League players."