KEITH LASLEY could not bring himself to watch yesterday's William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round draw.

The dust had barely settled on Motherwell's catastrophic fourth round defeat by League Two minnows Albion Rovers when the ties for the next round were pulled out the hat at Hampden.

And Lasley admitted his mood darkened even more following the news that Rovers had landed a home draw with League One side Stenhouse- muir.

The Motherwell captain said: "To be honest the Albion Rovers defeat is something we are still getting to grips with.

"It is just so disappointing and certainly as low as I have been in either of my spells at Motherwell.

"The draw for the fifth round was something I couldn't bring myself to watch and when I heard Rovers had got Stenhousemuir in a home draw it wasn't made any better. Particularly when you have Celtic hosting Aberdeen.

"So we know that this has been a real wasted opportunity for us to put together a great cup run and ultimately we only have ourselves to blame.

"It is going to hurt for a while and every time there is a cup draw this season we will get a sharp reminder of the Rovers defeat."

The Steelmen skipper admits that it is now vital that his side put to bed the Rovers defeat and refocus on the SPFL Premiership to avoid the pain of the cup defeat undermining their league campaign.

With Neil Lennon's rampant Celtic next up for Well at Fir Park, on Friday night, Lasley has no doubt about the importance of moving on from the cup calamity.

He said: "The one thing we can't do is let this defeat fester and undermine our league season.

"We came in and trained as normal on Monday and Tuesday and we have tried to talk things out, but we know we have not become a bad team because of one howler.

"We also know that we need to show a bit of character and backbone and provide a response for the fans.

"Right now everyone associated with Motherwell is hurting, and we need to stick together.

"But when you have Celtic coming to your place in the form they are in, it does focus your mind.

"We know we will have to raise things drastically on Friday night.

"So we need to show pride in ourselves and in the Motherwell jersey. Because of the cup defeat, this game has taken on an extra significance and it is up to us to prove we have put the Rovers' loss bed and produce a performance that underlines that."