Calum Butcher urges Motherwell to kick on after tough times

Calum Butcher believes Motherwell’s ability to ride out difficult times will stand them in good stead as they bid to bounce back from Friday’s Scottish Cup defeat at cinch Championship side Morton.

Well looked to be under serious threat of relegation as they went on a 15-game winless run in the Premiership between the start of September and the end of December.

However, they have managed to steady the ship and climb to eighth place after taking nine points from a possible 15 in a recent five-game unbeaten league run.

Butcher believes the fact they have already dealt with such adversity this term can help them recover from Friday’s setback as they bid to get back on track away to Aberdeen on Wednesday and move towards the top six.

“We’ve had difficult periods this year but we’ve stuck together and we’ll do that again,” said the 32-year-old defender.

“Nobody’s shying away from the fact we need to be better than we were on Friday. But there’s still a lot to play for this season.

“We are in a good position to kick on now. The league is really, really tight. You only have to look at the league from us up to sixth so we need to focus on the league and try and get as high as we can.”

Well’s 2-1 defeat at Morton came just three nights after they had thrashed top-flight rivals Ross County 5-0 and Butcher admitted it came as a shock.

“It was a tough one, we were really, really disappointed,” he said.

“There was a lot of frustration and anger in the dressing room.

“I didn’t really see it coming after the run we had been on and the performances we had.

“But it’s about taking it on the chin and accepting that we weren’t good enough.

“Collectively we’ve done that and we need to reset again, which we’ve done multiple times this year, and we’ll look to put it right.”