THERE can't have been many Motherwell supporters skipping out of Fir Park after the final whistle on Saturday enthused by what they had just witnessed from their side, but for Ryan Bowman, their scrappy draw with Livingston could be just the boost the struggling Steelmen need.

Bowman hit a deflected opening goal that looked to have Motherwell on their way to a much-needed three points, but a disappointing second-half display saw them pegged back by a Keaghan Jacobs wonder-goal from a free-kick.

The home side's lack of confidence after four straight defeats prior to this game was clearly evident throughout the match, particularly in possession, as the desire to avoid taking risks outweighed any notion of getting the ball down and trying to find a teammate.

On the positive side, they not only stopped the rot of a succession of losses here, but they answered some questions that their manager Stephen Robinson had asked of them this week in terms of how they deal with adversity.

After the body-blow of losing the equaliser, they suffered a further setback as Carl McHugh was sent off after picking up two cautions in quick succession, but they dug in to ensure they didn’t end up empty-handed for their efforts once more.

A small step, but goalscorer Bowman believes it could be a pivotal one in terms of restoring their belief.

“We need to get that back,” Bowman said. We need to get the confidence back from what we were playing like last season because we’ve got similar players.

“Confidence is huge, and we’ve got the break coming up and we’ll use that to our advantage. We’ll come back stronger.

“From the fans you could sense there was a nervousness about the boys. Maybe when we could have taken a touch we were slashing it, myself included. That all comes down to confidence.

“It’s disappointing as when you go one up at home we should have enough about us to see the game through, but Livingston are no pushovers. There is no getting away from it, they are a good side, they are good at what they do and we knew it was going to be a battle.

“That’s the first time I’ve played against them as I missed out through injury when we played them in the cup. They are a physical side, they are solid at the back, those three big boys at the back like to come and head everything.

“When it went 1-1 and we went down to 10 men, it could have been easy for our heads to drop and feel sorry for ourselves and go under. But we showed character, we dug in deep and come out with a point.

“We’ve got as good bunch of lads and we’ll never give up, and that’s what we did."

For all that Bowman tried to put a positive spin on the result though, he couldn't hide his disappointment that his side didn't take all three points from the match, particularly as he felt they should have had a penalty while 1-0 up when his shot came off Declan Gallagher's arm in the area.

“There and then I thought yeah [it's a penalty]," he said. "(Andy) Rose has took a shot and it’s bounced back to me, I’ve hit it and although the guys hands are down it’s hit his hand and it was going on target.

“To be honest I don’t think [the referee, Willie Collum] even knew. He said his arms were down by his side but I said they were out and he’s blocked it, but he just shrugged his shoulders."