Motherwell boss Stuart McCall upbeat despite loss to Celtic

Manager Stuart McCall praised his Motherwell side despite defeat at Premiership leaders Celtic.

Kris Commons fired a double and Stephen McManus scored an own goal against his former club.

Celtic were reduced to 10 men when Anthony Stokes was sent off for a foul on midfielder Keith Lasley but 'Well could not profit.

"We've been here and lost 1-0 on three occasions but that's as good as we've been at Celtic Park," said McCall.

The Motherwell boss praised his side for their response to falling behind to Commons's early strike.

"Celtic scored against the run of play, and we had some great opportunities, which it's not often we say that when we come here," said McCall.

"I'm disappointed, I'm not saying we should have won the game, but I'm disappointed that we didn't score a goal. I thought we merited a goal. Sometimes we were sloppy and Celtic cut us open with the good quality they've got.

"It's not surprise that Commons does what he does, but to lose a goal after four minutes, the roof can come in, but we didn't - we kept playing our football and I was pleased with a lot of things today."

McCall praised the display of James McFadden but felt his side paid dearly for inaccurate shooting.

"We had good opportunities to get shots in from outside the box, but we just didn't hit the target," he added.

"That's the disappointing fact, that we didn't score. At 2-0 it looked like we could press and get the next goal, which we said to the players at half time - let's not lie down,. Inverness have done it - let's see if we can do it and have a bit of belief.

"I certainly go away with a lot of positives. Okay, we didn't score - we got beat again - but we have a lot to take away from the game."

McCall revealed he was concerned Lasley may have been seriously injured in the tackle by Stokes which led to the sending off.

"My only concern was for Lasely, I thought it was a really bad tackle," he said.

"Keith gets some criticism because he's a robust player - probably like the way myself and (Celtic boss) Neil Lennon were - but in that midfield you've to be like that, but it was a bad tackle.

"The depth of our squad isn't deep and I thought it could be a tackle that could have ruled Keith out for a long time. It was a poor tackle and it merited a red card.

"We don't talk about second place here, other than our own result, the results have gone well for us to help us cement a place in the top six."