STUART McCALL has put faith in the character of his Motherwell men to bounce back from their stuttering start to the season.

The Well boss described his side's showing in the 2-0 loss to Inverness on Saturday as "absolutely rotten" as his side strugged all over the park.

The main concern for McCall was the lack of chances carved out against the Highlanders, with the Fir Park club yet to truly find their feet in front of goal this campaign, scoring just once in three games.

But the Steelmen's gaffer has confidence in the players who served him so well last term, and is hopeful they will kick on at Kilmarnock this Saturday.

He said: "We underperfomed against Inverness and we have done this season. We have not been up at it, certainly creatively.

"We've got to make sure we improve and with the character my players have I'm confident we will improve.

"But we need to do it quickly. We need to find form individually. I think with the few seasons that have gone past it's been fairly easy to pick my starting XI because of the consistency. At the moment that's not the case.

"But that doesn't mean we can't turn it around: we just need to work hard and be better against Kilmarnock.

"I know we have enough confidence in the side to bounce back.

"You don't become bad players overnight and when our confidence returns we'll be fine."

Derby County boss Steve McLaren hopes first-team football at Motherwell for centre-half loanee Mark O'Brien, 21, will revive his career after an extended spell out of action.

He said: "It is important Mark gets out and plays some first-team football and going to Motherwell will allow him to do that.

"He has been incredibly patient waiting in the wings behind our other central defenders and it will benefit him playing matches again."