A CRISIS summit between the Motherwell players helped pave the way to a crucial win over Partick Thistle.

That was the view of Well keeper Connor Ripley after the club began life without Ian Baraclough on a firm footing on Saturday.

The former Sligo Rovers manager was axed less than 24 hours after his team were humbled by Ladbrokes Championship side Morton in the League Cup, a result that triggered a war of words in the Cappielow away dressing room.

Ripley was not for lifting the lid on what was said during that heated exchange, but he did reveal that a team meeting called by captain Keith Lasley on Friday rallied the troops ahead of their clash with the Jags.

He said: “Las got the lads together and he said that we need to prove ourselves now. And he was right.

“We needed that lift to be honest and it has worked against Partick.

“After the cup defeat I think the fans deserved it.

“They keep on turning up to the games even though we are not paying the best football.”

Their display on Saturday certainly wasn’t quite Samba Soccer, but it was a vast improvement from what was served up in Greenock.

Caretaker manager Stephen Craigan made five changes to his team and tinkered with the formation.

It clearly worked as not only did Motherwell net twice for the first time on league duty this season, but their energy and organisation were clearly improved.

Ripley confesses he has had limited dealings with the Northern Irishman who has been moved up from Under 20s coach to look after first team affairs.

But it’s not stopped him from being impressed.

He said: “I've only known him for a couple of months and he's nice guy.

“It is up to the people upstairs whether he gets the job. “If he does then brilliant as we will just keep on going.

“He has come in and he wants it. I think that is brilliant. If he wants it then let’s try and give him it.

“At the end of the day it is not up to us, it is the men up top.”

“From what I can see he wants it. But, whoever comes in we are going to support them and back them.

“At the moment Crags is the man in charge so we will be behind him.”

The on-loan Middlesbrough man added: “To be honest I don't care if it's pretty or not, just as long as we get three points.

“If it meant we were going to win every week I would settle for that.

“We made it a bit hard for ourselves at the end but we dealt with it quite well.”

In the wake of Baraclough’s exit, Motherwell owner Les Hutchison hit out at his under-performing players, claiming they did not do enough to help their manager.

Despite the scathing comments, Ripley claims it is just water off a duck’s back.

“He can say what he wants. He puts the money in,” said the keeper. “We have to perform and we haven't performed.

“He is well within his rights to say those kind of things. We didn't take it personally. We took it on the chin and said: 'right, we don't want that again.'

“We want to push on and I think we have done that.”