Motherwell’s Liam Donnelly taking positives from cup defeat

Motherwell midfielder Liam Donnelly will take positives from their battling display against Hibernian as they aim to rescue their top-six hopes.

Well had Hibs pressed back for much of the second half, despite losing Bevis Mugabi to a red card inside 60 seconds of their 2-1 Scottish Cup quarter-final defeat.

The cup exit came on the back of a 10-match run without victory in the cinch Premiership, which has seen Graham Alexander’s men slip out of the top six.

But they are only one point adrift of sixth place as seven teams chase three remaining places and Donnelly feels they can take heart from Sunday’s display ahead of a trip to face St Johnstone in the league this Saturday.

“We had to dig in and show a lot of bottle,” said the midfielder, who was named in the Northern Ireland squad on Monday.

“We had chances and on another day we might have done enough to win it. I think we were the better side.

“I think Sunday was a positive, with the performance and the character we showed. I don’t think there were many negatives.

“We just need to take that form into the league now. There’s plenty to play for. One game could take us back up to fourth, even though the results haven’t been going our way recently.

“We’ve not been happy with the way it’s been since we came back from the break. But there’s not much between the teams and if we get a win at the weekend we could be back in the European places.”