FOOTBALL fans always think they are the only people who care about their club.

After all, it is the supporters that pay their money week in, week out. Players are the ones that get to live the dream, and, in most cases, receive handsome rewards for it.

What do they care if they don’t win?

Well, in the case of Lionel Ainsworth, you just had to look at the tears streaming down the distraught Motherwell man’s face on Tuesday night.

In an extraordinary interview, it was the 28-year-old Englishman who came to speak to the press as he struggled – and largely failed – to hold his emotions together.

Yes, just a few moments earlier it had been Steven Lawless, the Partick Thistle forward Ainsworth was meant to be tracking, that broke free to rifle a deflected 90th-minute winner by Connor Ripley.

And, yes, it is fair to say his livid dressing room made him aware of their dissatisfaction at him switching off at the wrong time.

But with his voice breaking due to the lump in his throat and the tears welling up in his eyes, the Motherwell winger did not seek to hide his remorse in a genuine and heart-felt outpouring of emotion.

“I definitely care about what happened. I don’t want to be in the same situation as last season and at the moment we are in it again,” said Ainsworth. “So I have listened to the manager and all the senior pros and I have taken it on-board.

“It’s horrible and I feel sick. It’s football and it happens. If I was a couple of yards further back then we don’t lose the game.

“So II have to have a look at myself and that’s what I’ll do.

“If it had finished 0-0 it might not have been a bad point but it’s sickening.

“I’m distraught. People say 'Oh there’s a game next week' but when you’re a footballer you get highs and lows and this is definitely a low.

“I’ve just got to put myself between the man and the goal – I’ve just got to be better.”

The grief shown by Ainsworth tells a story of anguish that goes way beyond shipping a late goal at Firhill.

Motherwell manager Mark McGhee heralded the winger as the best player the club had when he was installed as boss back in October, but since then the former Shrewsbury Town forward has struggled for game time.

Perhaps seeing Tuesday night’s cameo as an opportunity to win them the game, it was his error that was pinpointed as being the cause of defeat.

While some observers may point to a blunt and laboured performance from the rest of the group in claret and amber before his introduction as being a main factor in a third league defeat in the row, Ainsworth was determined to take the blame.

“I’ve got to look within myself. I have to take responsibility fully. People were saying things in the dressing room and that’s right,” he said.

“I shook their hands and said thank you because it’s made me learn.

“I went home after the game and I was so angry but I will be back into training and I will work my backside off.”

Ainsworth added: “Ultimately I have lost us the game. There were a few harsh words in there but I have to take it all on-board, have a word with the other boys and apologise.

“I have got to do my job better. My positioning could have been better and awareness of my man around me.

“I’ve got to concentrate – I’ve got to do better. I feel sick for the boys because it’s cost us the game.

“It’s nothing to do with me coming on late in the game because the manager has put his trust in me and I have gone and lost it for us.

“I’ve got to go again, stick in there and try to get in next week.”