Hard work is the only way to recover from Hearts humbling - Keith Lasley
Motherwell skipper Keith Lasley has called on his team-mates to use their Tynecastle thrashing as a reminder of how hard they need to work to secure results.
Well's six-match unbeaten run came crashing to an end with a 6-0 defeat to Hearts but Lasley wants to use the experience as a lesson.
The midfielder, who returns from suspension when Motherwell host Ross County, said: "I've been there before myself, been out there plenty of times when things just aren't going for you.
"I don't think we got to the levels we have shown on a pretty consistent basis over the past five or six weeks. And Hearts played well to be honest and got on top of us.
"The important thing is we bounce back and refocus on what has been a good period for us overall and hopefully get back to that against Ross County.
"There's no way we were going to go until the end of the season without losing a game. We are going to come a cropper at some point and it's how we react to that.
"Did we want to go to Hearts and lose the way we did? Of course not. But what it does do is refocus your mind and think back to what has got us success over the previous few weeks.
"That's what we have done all week, hard work on the training pitch."
Lasley knows they owe the Motherwell fans some payback for their painful trip to Edinburgh.
"When you come back after a defeat, the players themselves can beat themselves up at times," he said. "The fans maybe don't see that, how much it affects us as players, it really does.
"We had a good support through at Tynecastle last week and nobody was more disappointed than the players.
"It gives you a motivation to get back out there. Our form in front of our home fans has been good lately and if we can get back to that then hopefully the fans will be going home happier this weekend."
Josh Law is out of Saturday's game after he was forced off with a knock during the crushing defeat by Hearts.
Ross County manager Jim McIntyre has called for his team to become more resolute in protecting their goal in order to take full advantage of their goal power.
County are third top goalscorers in the Ladbrokes Premiership with 38 to their name - but have conceded just two less.
Last weekend's 3-2 defeat against 10-man Aberdeen was a case in point for McIntyre's argument as he called for his side to keep out Motherwell at Fir Park.
"For what we are creating we could be more clinical," he said. "I've got to say though that we are scoring plenty of goals.
"We have scored the most goals outwith Hearts and Celtic so that tells you we are being clinical. But we have also conceded too many and that allows the opposition back into games.
"We are scoring two and three goals so that should be enough to win any football match. We have got to make sure we are doing it at the other end as well. And that's as a team, not just the back four."
County's most recent clean sheet in the league was in a 3-0 win over Motherwell on November 21.
"We had one against Dunfermline in the cup and we want to get more clean sheets," McIntyre said.
"Clean sheets win you matches and get you points. We know we are such a goal threat going forward that we will score goals, but equally we have got to be resolute at the back."
Two players could be back for the trip. Midfielder Martin Woods (back) and striker Craig Curran (concussion) have returned to training.
Tony Dingwall is also pushing for involvement following a recent ankle injury but Liam Boyce (broken hand) is still out.
Source: PAR
