Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson praised his sides resilience after an excellent 1-0 away win against Kilmarnock in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
Jake Carroll’s stunning free-kick handed the visitors an important three points which moved them into third place at the expense of Aberdeen.
Motherwell travel to Ross County on Boxing Day before hosting local rivals Hamilton as they look to enter the winter break as the top side outside of the Old Firm.
“I thought we started brighter and had a lot of the ball,” said Robinson. “We had a few chances that we didn’t finish but they came into the game.
“If you are going to get results here and be where we are in the table then you need to be resilient.
“The back four were excellent and Mark O’Hara was very good in midfield on his first start for a while.
“A moment of quality wins the game and that was the difference between the sides.
“I’d be absolutely delighted to remain third but we have two difficult games. We travel to Ross County where I have the upmost respect for the coaching staff and ownership structure.
“We will have to be at our best, we can’t be at 70 percent and win football matches.
“We need to keep pushing people because there are players in the background ready to play. That’s the only way you drive people forward because we’ve got a good squad.”
The decisive moment of the game came after 67 minutes courtesy of Carroll’s cultured left-footed strike.
After the impressive O’Hara was fouled by Niko Hamalainen, Carroll stepped up and sent a wonderful strike into the top corner from 25 yards out with Laurentiu Branescu rooted to the spot.
Kilmarnock rallied after falling behind but, despite creating numerous chances, they couldn’t find a way past the excellent Mark Gillespie.
The 27-year-old clawed away Eamonn Brophy’s strike after 81 minutes before producing an acrobatic left-handed stop to deny Stephen O’Donnell.
Kilmarnock have only one win in their last nine games but interim manager Alex Dyer remained positive.
“It’s not the result we wanted but the boys gave their all and we created some chances especially in the second-half,” he said.
“Their keeper was very good and we conceded from a free-kick but there’s lots of things to be positive about.
“We kept going and working hard so we will look forward to the next game.”
