Mark McGhee: It's up to me to get the best out of Lionel Ainsworth at Motherwell

The former Shrewsbury Town winger gave an emotional interview on Tuesday night after he held his hands up for contributing to Partick Thistle’s last-minute winner against Well at Firhill.

After his marker Steven Lawless was allowed to score, the 28-year-old struggled to hold back tears in an emotionally-charged admission.

Part of the frustration from Ainsworth comes from the fact he has been used sparingly this season under McGhee, who has claimed his player ‘doesn’t have a defensive bone in his body’.

However, the Motherwell manager is well aware that the man he once identified as the club’s best player is too good to be sitting on the bench, and has vowed to look at his system to see where the quick forward can be accommodated.

“He will learn something,” said McGhee of Tuesday night. “Whether he will do that aspect of the job any better in the future, I’m not sure.

“It is up to me to now really understand Lionel and play him to his strengths. I’ve always been a believer that you should do that and if you ask a player to do something they are not capable of then don’t be surprised if they don’t do it.

“To a degree, maybe I realised with Lionel the other night that we have got to take away the responsibility of those situations to get the best out of him.

“He’s basically not got a defensive bone in his body so we have got to get real and understand.

“But he has fantastic ability and fantastic attributes that we should be using and he is sitting on the bench every week. So it’s up to me to find the best way to deploy Lionel because he’s too good a player to be sitting on the side.”

Many fans have come out to show their support for Ainsworth on social media by posting pictures of him during some of the highlights he has helped contribute to, most notably the Ladbrokes Premiership play-off final against Rangers last season.

However, McGhee stressed that while his winger opened up about an exchange of words in the Firhill away dressing room, not all of it was aimed at him.

“There was tension in the dressing room to say the least on Tuesday night from all of us, he said. “It wasn’t all directed towards Lionel, not by any means.

“But I think from the fans’ point of view, they should be a lot more worried if this wasn’t the case. The fact is people showed a lot of emotion and disappointment.

“For me, that’s really important that they care and clearly they do. It’s positive in terms of going on to the next game and changing these results.”

Despite being on a run of three-straight defeats in the Premiership, Motherwell now turn their attention to the William Hill Scottish Cup this afternoon as holders Inverness Caley Thistle come to Fir Park.

It is 25 years since they last enjoyed success in the tournament, and McGhee is vocal about his desire to replicate the feat.

“For me, the cup holds fantastic memories of all rounds, not just finals,” said the Motherwell manager. “That includes difficult games where you manage to get through and Saturday is a tough draw for both teams.

“Inverness will come here having beaten us feeling they have chance to at least take us back up there, but equally we know on our day we have produced performances here where we can beat teams.

“It has the makings of a great cup tie.”