Motherwell caretaker boss Stephen Frail praised his side’s character as they fell to a 3-1 defeat at home to champions Celtic.

And Frail says he’s happy to continue in the role as long as he’s wanted, having been asked to take the team in the wake of Stuart Kettlewell’s decision to resign on Monday.

Goals from Daizen Maeda, Adam Idah and Jota cancelled out Luke Armstrong’s first strike for Motherwell.

But Motherwell made their illustrious visitors work hard for their win, and were 2-1 down until Jota added a third in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Frail said: “I was delighted with the effort, I thought it was terrific. Losing a goal so early in any game is tough, but against a team with the quality of Celtic, you kind of fear the worst – I think it was 50 seconds or something.

“But they dug in, they battled, managed to get themselves back in the game, caused them a couple of problems first half with the ball, not as much as we would have liked in the second half.

““But the actual work rate, desire, shape, whatever it was, without the ball, I thought was really good, and it’s something for us to build on.

“They showed a lot of character. The players need to look after themselves, but they’re a really good group, they’re an honest bunch of lads that are great to work with.

“But I think they did show a bit of character.

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“They scored the third late on. Without really putting them under any pressure to try and get the equaliser, it’s still a late third goal, and there’s no way of coming back from that.

“But I’m really pleased with the character, and it’s a starting point to kick on.”

Frail added: “I think we could play better, and that’s something myself and the manager were constantly on at them about was to be better with the ball.

“We’ve got a lot of good players, but maybe the lack of belief and trust in themselves and their team-mates [is an issue], but they need to be better with it in big moments of the game.

“If you’re defending like that for so long, and you win it back, you need to be good with the ball and try and cause them problems.”

Frail hasn’t been told anything with regards to the caretaker job beyond today, but said: “I’m happy to do whatever the club need. As I say, it’s far from a burden coming in here every morning.

“It’s a pleasure to come in every morning, work with the people, the staff that I work with, not just the coaching side, everyone, the offices.

“It’s a small club with a real family ethos to it, and a group of players who, since Tuesday, having had to pick themselves up, have been terrific. So until I’m told otherwise, I’ll continue to give all I can for the club.”