A home match against St Johnstone is a good chance for Motherwell to bounce back from their Premier Sports Cup semi-final defeat against Rangers.
But boss Stuart Kettlewell insists his players haven’t been floored by their Hampden heartache.
Andy Halliday put the Steelmen ahead at the National Stadium on Sunday, but goals from Cyriel Dessers and Nedim Bajrami sent the Ibrox side through to a final showdown against Celtic on December 15.
Kettlewell says any game is a chance to react to the defeat, but is particularly looking forward to getting back in front of their own supporters at Fir Park this afternoon.
He said: “My focus is to make sure the players are picked up from the weekend and to make sure we can try and perform as well as we can.
“We’re absolutely fine. There was unbelievable disappointment on Sunday night, that probably carried a little bit into Monday morning, but our sole focus was to make sure everyone was back at it, come Tuesday.
“It’s not as if I’m going round picking boys up off the floor and off the canvas – they have a real desire to do well and to achieve for this club.
“That’s where the disappointment comes from, because we wanted to go that next step and get into the final, but we came up short, as a group. We accept that, and hold our hands up to it.
“The motivation is always to be moving forward, try and improve, and we spoke about it as a group after the game, for them not to have a hangover in that disappointment.
“I have seen a group of players who are desperate to get back into league action, and to try and replicate some of the performances and results that they’ve had already this season.
“I think any game is an opportunity to bounce back, not specifically St Johnstone.”
Kettlewell added: “I’ve watched them a couple of times since Simo Valakari came in to take charge, and I think they’ve completely changed. It’s a totally different type of football to what we’ve been used to, and that presents its own challenges.
“But I can genuinely tell you that we’re desperate to get back out to play a game and you want to put that disappointment behind you as quickly as you possibly can.
“That’s not specific to St Johnstone or any other team in this league, The fact that we’ve got a game at 3pm on a Saturday just presents an opportunity, but we have to try and deliver on that.
“For us to just turn up and think we’re going to get over the disappointment of the semi-final is not going to be a thing, it’s going to have to be our best version.
“I know that for a fact, because St Johnstone could probably make a case for picking up more points in the games that he’s been in charge of.
“We know it’s going to be a really difficult task, but it’s one where I hope the players approach in the way they have almost everything this season.”
Kettlewell is also eager to give something back to the 8000-plus fans who travelled to Hampden on Sunday.
He said: “You always hope you bring a few more in on the backs of those types of games, but it’s also probably an opportunity for me to show my appreciation to the support that came along on Sunday – they were unbelievable.
“They were outnumbered but I don’t think they were necessarily out-gunned in their approach to the game or the support that was there.
“You always hope that grows your home support that little bit, but they gave us absolutely everything they had on the day to try and drive us across the line.
“Hopefully we get something similar on Saturday.”
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