Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson insists he never lost faith in his players before watching them beat St Mirren to record their first Ladbrokes Premiership win in six attempts.
Goals either side of half-time from David Turnbull and Chris Cadden sealed a routine win for the Steelmen, as they moved five points clear of bottom club Dundee.
The Fir Park side were slick throughout the encounter but it was the bottle showed by his players in ending the winless run that pleased Robinson the most.
“We came here needing a result tonight,” he said. “I never lost belief in any of the players.
“I get a bit of stick for having some loyalty to a lot of the guys but I know the character we have in the team is always there. It’s just trying to get them to believe.
“I try and take the stick, rather than the players. You’ve got to remember that they’re young boys who aren’t on millions of pounds. They make mistakes and their decision-making at times can be better.
“You have to put your arm around them and encourage them. Tonight gives us something to build on. It’s a start but we have to take that in to Saturday’s game as well.”
Robinson also heaped the praise on teenager Turnbull, who netted his first goal for the club with a thumping strike that outfoxed Saints keeper Craig Samson.
“He’s trained with us now for four or five months and his development in that time has been brilliant,” he said.
“When you’re not winning games you’re always a bit wary about putting young boys in but he’s unfazed by things like that. I think it’s only the start for him and I think he can only get better.”
St Mirren boss Oran Kearney bemoaned “a lack of quality” from his side as they slumped to a sixth successive defeat in front of over 4,000 hardy souls at the Simple Digital Arena.
“There’s certain things you can ask for and things you can try and get but I think in areas of the pitch tonight we just lacked quality and that’s probably the harshest part of it all.
“Fans will go away from that tonight and say that’s as poor a performance as we’ve had but actually I think our players were braver tonight.
“Goals change games and unfortunately we lost a disappointing one and found ourselves in a scenario again which was difficult for the players to deal with.”
