KEITH LASLEY insists Motherwell shouldn’t be downbeat at their agonising last gasp defeat to Rangers at Ibrox.

Mark McGhee’s side were on course for a share of the spoils on Saturday but an injury-time strike from Kenny Miller snatched a 2-1 win for the Light Blues.

Motherwell had gone ahead through Scott McDonald after 18 minutes and equipped themselves well as they went toe-to-toe with the Premiership title hopefuls.

After losing 5-0 to Celtic and going down 2-1 to St Johnstone in their last two outings, this was a far more encouraging day at the office for the Steelmen despite the final outcome.

And skipper Lasley is confident McGhee’s side can take the positives from of a pleasing performance as they look to get back on track in the top flight.

He said: “It’s a very sore one to take. We were coming off the back of a couple of disappointing results so were determined to give a better account of ourselves than in the past couple of weeks.

“I think we did that so to lose the game after a much better performance makes it all the more galling.

“Possibly we didn’t have the options on the bench. We’ve got two or three guys out that you’d probably class as first-team starters and you miss that.

“It maybe looks a wee bit bare although that’s not to say the guys there aren’t capable.

“I’m sure the manager said himself that they’ve not had that experience yet of playing in an atmosphere like this in a high pressure situation.

“That said, to lose the game regardless, is just really disappointing.

“Regardless of the result, once the dust settles I’m sure we’ll look back on the performance with a lot of positives.

“The ultimate aim in football is to turn performances into wins but against Dundee next week we’ll be starting in a much better frame of mind than in the last seven days as we know we’ve let ourselves down.

“As hard as it is now, I’m sure we’ve got enough to work with come Monday and we’re looking forward to next week already.”

Boss McGhee was delighted with the application of his players as they put in a shift to stifle Rangers and often looked threatening in the final third.

Lasley lead by example in the middle of the park and was one of a number of Steelmen stars who impressed at Ibrox as the visitors were denied at the death.

Summer signing Craig Clay was arguably Well’s top performer on the day and Lasley was impressed with an eye-catching showing from the former Grimsby Town midfielder.

He said: “An illustration of what he’s brought to the team is the first goal. It typified his willing ness to put his body on the line.

“He took two players out of the game and came out with the ball and that triggered the breakaway.

“The more characters we can have like than in our dressing room the better. Along with that I think the boy can play as well. So what’s not to like?

“Hopefully he can do as good a job as he has been doing. He’ll be a good asset going forward. Definitely.

“When you bring new guys to the club it’s important you do as much background checks as you can.

“Sometimes it’s not all about their ability because there are a lot of close games in this league.

“Sometimes it can come down to one challenge or showing that wee bit of character. He’s fitted into our dressing room really well.

“The more guys like Craig we can add the better. The stronger our group will be.”