Mark McGhee happy with Motherwell's response

Mark McGhee praised his Motherwell side after they bounced back from midweek misery to ravage Ross County 4-1 in their Premiership clash at Fir Park.

The Steelmen's boss was dejected by the 3-0 home defeat to Inverness on Wednesday night which left them with one win in 10 but Well responded in fine style against the Highlands' other top-flight side.

Veteran striker Scott McDonald headed in a Lionel Ainsworth free-kick after eight minutes before Louis Moult's cut-back was deflected into his own goal by Staggies defender Kenny van der Weg.

Right-back Richard Tait and Ainsworth added further goals after the break with a fine strike by County substitute Alex Schalk only a consolation for the visitors.

“Bouncebackability, that's what I said to them in the dressing room,” said McGhee with a smile, when asked if his side had shown appropriate character.

“We have proven we have bouncebackability.

“Obviously I am delighted.

“It was the hope that we could turn it around and certainly at training I sensed there was an appetite and desire to get back so I was well pleased.”

Ross County dropped to 11th place and are without a win in nine games and boss Jim McIntyre insists his side have to get back to basics.

“It was a very tough afternoon,” he said.

“I actually thought we started the game well but let ourselves down with our final ball.

“Then we conceded a free-kick and it was as basic as man-for-man marking and we don't do our job and we got punished.

“That really gave Motherwell the confidence, a spring in their step for the next 15- 20 minutes.

“I thought they dominated that and it put the doubt in our mind which happens when you are a team who have not had a victory for a while. So that was really frustrating.

“We create an opportunity though an Andrew Davies header from a corner, which was a good chance to put a spring back in our step, but you have to say it just wasn't good enough.

“Motherwell get another two goals from our attacks, when our final pass could have been better. They break on us and we don't defend it properly.

“So we have only ourselves to blame for that.

“The players are certainly working hard as they can but we are not giving ourselves a chance to win games because of the errors we are making and that, 100 per cent, eats into confidence.”