Blair Spittal says Motherwell can plug goals gap if Kevin van Veen leaves

MOTHERWELL star Blair Spittal accepts they could lose Dutch goal machine Kevin van Veen for next season and has challenged the rest of the squad to replace his goals. Van Veen netted for the 11th game in a row and scored his 29th goal of the season as Motherwell clinched seventh place at the end of a roller-coaster term that saw them flirt with relegation before ending the campaign strongly. The striker looks certain to be the subject of plenty of summer interest and it may be that his goal against United on Sunday was hit fitting farewell at Fir Park. But Spittal - who was relegated with United seven years ago - reckons a departure for van Veen could open doors for others. He said: "He deserves all the plaudits he's getting, We've played with him all season and we see the quality he's got. Since the new manager has come in, the form Kev has been in has been incredible. "He's just a pleasure to play with. "It would have been some achievement to finish with 30 goals but 29 in itself is incredible for a team that has finished in the bottom six. To score that amount of goals has been incredible. "But transfers happen in football all the time - players come and go. It's important that if things do happen for Kev, it's up to other players in the team to step up. "It looks like we've got that in the changing room. We've got goals coming from all over the park and I think Kev would be quick to stress that a lot of it is down to the team as well. "The manager says it's not about just one man in the team. It's about having threats all over the park." And Spittal paid tribute to manager Stuart Kettlewell, who turned Well around since his arrival initially sas caretaker in February following the departure of Steven Hammell. He said: "We've got a good changing room and with the break coming now, we have the chance to hit the reset button. "It has been a long season, to be honest, and it's a chance for us to reflect, recharge and come back for pre-season in a good headspace and ready to attack the new season. "The manager said that we can't expect the fans to be right behind us when we don't give them anything. We have to give them something and I think we've done that over the last couple of months since the new manager has come in. "We went on a good run and we managed to gain some momentum to end the season strongly. "It gives us a platform, but next season starts from zero. People are going to come and go and the squad is going to change, but we've given ourselves a bit of momentum going into next season. "At points this season it was really tough but we've ended the season on a high and the points total we've managed to amass, considering where we were at one point, is very encouraging."