Jim McIntyre is confident the iron spirit and high fitness levels in the Ross County camp will enable his team to quickly shake off any midweek blues at Motherwell today.
The Ross County manager was more than heartened by elements of the Dingwall team’s performance in the 4-0 defeat by Celtic on Wednesday despite the hefty margin.
Late goals punished County’s refreshing desire to take the match to the Champions League contenders in the last 10 minutes.
But McIntyre saw defensive strength and much more attacking belief and intent among his players as they strive to end an eight-game run without victory.
Preparing for the Fir Park test today, the Staggies manager said: “The Celtic game was very harsh on us in terms of scoreline.
“We chose to make a change late on (switching to a back three) to try and get something out of the game. We need to focus on how we were up until that point in terms of being very competitive and very much in the match, creating a lot of good opportunities.
“We were always a threat and passed the ball and defended well, so the players deserve a lot of praise for that.
“Setting aside some of the refereeing decisions which went against us, it was a good, positive performance and one we can take confidence from.
“I’m very proud of what the players gave me against Celtic.”
McIntyre is reading little into Motherwell’s current toils and is focusing on making sure his own players play to potential at a venue where County are unbeaten in the last four visits.
That run includes a 2-1 victory at Fir Park last time out in January this year when goals from Jackson Irvine and Brian Graham ensured full points.
McIntyre said: “Motherwell are a good side with a fair bit of quality despite recent results and we need to go there in positive frame of mind to get a result.
“My players have shown time and again they can bounce back from setbacks in a positive fashion and we’re looking to do that again. They’re fit and raring to go.
“The Celtic game showed that again. We lost an early goal which was disappointing but we showed a great reaction, as we always do.
“It was good to have Liam Boyce back in attack and we showed a lot of belief as the match went on. We defended well until the late change and that, too, gives us a good platform to move forward.”
County have a clean bill of health approaching the Motherwell game and also have midfielder Tim Chow free to play after a two-game suspension.