Young is confident Motherwell can rediscover their early season form

Motherwell interim manager Gordon Young felt the loss of Tom Hateley had an impact on how his team performed in the 4-1 defeat to Rangers.

Hateley was withdrawn before half-time due to illness in the Scottish Premier League match at Fir Park.

"The game plan revolved around Tom Hateley and unfortunately he was violently sick during the game and then at half-time," Young told BBC Scotland.

"That had a slight bearing on how we were going to play."

Young's side fell 2-0 down in the first half but John Sutton's goal at the start of the second period gave Well hope.

But further goals by Rangers ensured an away victory.

"I don't think it's ever great to laud a defeat," said Young. "What we've always got to look at is what we can do better.

"We set a game plan out, had a contingency game plan and if you're better than the opposition on the day you'll win the match.

"I didn't think we played as well as we could today, I take full responsibility. I thought we could've performed a wee bit better.

"We spoke at half-time. We agreed that nobody's going to dominate the game for 90 minutes. We felt a great opportunity to go out in the second half to have a go and we scored the goal.

"We then had to be tight for the next 10 minutes, the next goal was very, very important. We had a chance at 2-1 and then Rangers go up and make it 3-1, that was always going to make it more difficult for us."

Motherwell vice-chairmain Derek Weir told BBC Scotland before kick-off that they were down to "two or three" candidates in their search for a new manager and Young is confident the team will recover from their mid-season slump.

"People do like to know what's happening," added Young. "As soon as somebody comes in, I think the players will respond.

"You can't forget that this team's done particularly well for the main part of the season and I've no reason to think they won't come back again."

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