Motherwell need to take Hibs defeat on the chin, says midfielder

Davor Zdravkovski admits Motherwell have to take their 3-0 defeat at home to Hibs on the chin, but says they’ll come out fighting this week.

The 26-year-old midfielder made his first start in over a month as Hibs ran riot at Fir Park.

While not the comeback Zdravkovski would have wanted, he was pleased to be back in the side, having last started in the 3-0 defeat at home to Celtic on October 27.

Zdravkovski admits Motherwell under-performed as goals from Junior Hoilett, Mykola Kukharevych and Josh Campbell sent the points back to Edinburgh, but says they have to bounce back quickly, with games at Dundee on Wednesday and St Mirren next Saturday.

The North Macedonian said: “We have to take it on the chin. Things we can control we did badly in this game, and we under-performed.

“We under-performed, not only technically but we were missing the basic principles – sometimes not fighting or giving as much as we can for this shirt.

“It’s a tough one to swallow, personally, and collectively, but we have to make sure that we don’t dwell too much on it and we can bounce back.

“The positive in football is that you always can bounce back, and we’re lucky that we have games on Wednesday and Saturday.

“It’s a tough challenge for us first away at Dundee, but we’ve got to show some kind of reaction, perform way better than we did on Saturday.

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“We have to go there, show pride in ourselves, give it everything we’ve got and bounce back as quickly as we can.”

Zdravkovski added: “We need to come out fighting. We’ve got to stick together in tough moments, and I think this is the right way for us to get back on the right path.

“You want to win football games, because it’s the best feeling in the world, but sometimes when tough times come you have to be willing to accept it as well.

“I can assure you that nobody in this dressing room or on the coaching staff wants to lose games, but I feel like we have a good group of people around us and the only way to go forward is to stick together and work as hard as we can.”

Zdravkovski was an unused sub in the league win over Dundee United, and in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final defeat to Rangers at Hampden.

He climbed off the bench in a 2-1 win over St Johnstone on November 9, but remained unused in the 2-1 defeat at Ross County last weekend.

He said: “If you are playing football you want to be on the pitch as much as you can, but sometimes these decisions can’t be controlled.

“I’m doing my best, always giving my best in every training session and hopefully that gets you minutes, but it’s the gaffer’s decision.

“I’m always available if he needs me, no matter how many minutes I have. I’m glad I’m back fit now, I’m glad to be back in the squad.”

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