Motherwell: Stuart McCall stays positive after Pittodrie loss

Stuart McCall's side sit second bottom of the Scottish Premiership

Stuart McCall detected green shoots of recovery despite his Motherwell side suffering an eighth Scottish Premiership defeat of the season.

Jonny Hayes' second-minute goal was all that separated the sides as Aberdeen claimed victory at Pittodrie.

"When you go 1-0 down on the run we're on, after two minutes at Pittodrie, you fear a long night with the quality they've got," McCall told BBC Scotland.

"But tonight, we nullified them, so on that we'll take positives."

Motherwell remain second bottom of the table, level with St Mirren and three points ahead of Ross County, who would draw level with the other two if they win in Paisley on Saturday.

But McCall believes his side are on the road to improvement now that his squad's injury problems are easing.

"In the dressing-room, everybody's equally determined to start next Friday at St Johnstone," he said.

"We've had the first 11 games - the first third - we've been poor, no doubt about that.

"But I've got a few lads back now, I've asked them there and they're all up for it.

"I think they wish they could come out and play another 90 minutes.

"I've got good characters inside that dressing-room."

McCall thought it was a case of being unable to recover from a fortuitous early goal.

"When I watched it back, at first I thought it was poor defending, but we've just been unfortunate," he insisted.

"Stephen McManus wins the ball and unfortunately it ricochets off Stevie Hammell right into Hayes' path and that's the way it's been going for us."

McCall pointed out that Aberdeen had reverted to a back three shortly after the goal.

"I feared the worst," he added. "You lose a goal like that on the run we're on, but we showed great desire, commitment - alright not a lot of quality.

"We forced four or five corners in the first half and McManus has had a decent chance.

"It's all about losing that first goal. I don't think Aberdeen would have changed their system if we hadn't lost a goal.

"Obviously, when they go to a back three, just like we did, it nullified both sides."