MOTHERWELL manager Mark McGhee has revealed his players will not be allowed to take things easy while he is off in Barbados.

The Well boss jetted out to the tropical destination on Sunday morning to meet with Fir Park majority shareholder Les Hutchison to discuss their vision for the future.

McGhee has not shown any hesitation in putting his new players through their paces with a mixture of double sessions and no midweek days off.

And even though he will be off in the Caribbean, he told SportTimes he expects nothing but 100 per cent effort from his squad back home in rain-lashed Lanarkshire.

“The players will get next weekend off,” said McGhee. “They will get Friday, Saturday and Sunday off otherwise they will be here working.

“I said that to them. I expect to come back to them in the same condition as I leave them now, and I expect them to have the same attitude as they’ve had every single day since I’ve been here.

“We’ll do that and we’ll just press on.”

Since taking over last month, Motherwell’s performance levels have steadily improved along with results.

This run was partly halted at the weekend by Inverness Caley Thistle, who took all three points from a 3-1 win at Fir Park that stopped the Steelmen recording their second win on the bounce.

Despite the negative result, McGhee insists he saw plenty of positives in a game that was heavily influenced by a controversial penalty award and a heavily-deflected strike to send the Highlanders in to half-time with a two-goal lead.

“It wasn’t by any way, shape or form our worst performance,” said the Motherwell manager. “There was a lot of good in it and of course there is a lot we will take away and look at and work at.

“Having said that, they are the same things we have been working on anyway. Some of them were done well, some not as much.

“But we are in the early stages of building a model, Inverness are a bit more developed. There were times in the first half when we found it difficult to get to them but when we got the ball we were just as dangerous, which was important.

“We play a different way from them.”

Former Motherwell midfielder Iain Vigurs was the man who struck a stunning third for John Hughes’ men at the weekend to put Inverness 3-0 up.

However, even though the hosts could only claw one back through Louis Moult, McGhee saw plenty of spirit to be encouraged by.

“Starting in the first half I thought Marvin played well, I thought Pearo was great throughout, the two centre-halves were terrific,” he said. “I also thought Josh Law on the right was our best player. Louis Moult was a pest for them and put them under pressure, then he got his goal.

“Ultimately there were a lot of good performances. Goals change games, and certainly two goals change games.

“But for me, more than anything, the players have answered a wee bit of a question. They went 3-0 down and there was nobody hiding, we didn’t capitulate. We rolled our sleeves up and tried to get back into the game.”