Saturday 31 January 2015 19:30, UK
Motherwell boss Ian Baraclough hopes his players will take heart from the 1-1 draw against St Johnstone at Fir Park.
Baraclough’s men went behind to an early Murray Davidson goal and then had defender Louis Laing dismissed 25 minutes into his debut before John Sutton’s spectacular equaliser.
Sutton’s strike 15 minutes from time ensured Motherwell avoided a sixth successive defeat.
Baraclough said: "Any point is pleasing after the run of results we have had but the way we earned it and the way we went about it second half was good for me to see and good for the supporters and hopefully good for the group to realise they can play, they can be effective when they are positive and get on the ball and when they want to make things happen.
"The first half was a stark contrast to that. There was a fear and reluctance to get on the ball and make something happen. And that can't happen in this situation.
"At half-time it could have gone one of two ways and they came through it. They have shown to me there is a desire there, when the chips are down.
"They could have felt sorry for themselves, 10 men, goal down, nothing going for us. But we didn't and that's full credit to the players that they picked themselves off the floor, because we all know first half wasn't good enough at all."
Baraclough felt Laing's sending-off, after he challenged Chris Kane, was harsh, although he stopped short of saying they would launch an appeal against the decision from referee Willie Collum.
"For me it was a coming-together of bodies. They both stumbled. It wasn't a pre-empted push or kick or a thought that 'he has got in front of me, I've got to do something',” Baraclough said
"It was a coming-together, he has slipped and they have both fallen to the ground at the same time."
St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright felt his side deserved a win but admitted they had lost some of their authority after the break.
"We have dropped two points because we totally controlled the game from first whistle to last," Wright said. "We probably wasted too many opportunities in the first half.
"We didn't start the second half particularly well, didn't move the ball as well. When it went to 1-1 we looked more likely to score again.
"But we are disappointed with the goal. We missed two or even three chances to tackle and gifted them the goal by doing that."
