SATURDAY’S defeat at home to Rangers was a painful one in more ways than one for Dean Cornelius. It was the Motherwell midfielder who was on the receiving end of an ill-judged tackle from Leon Balogun that resulted in the Ibrox defender’s dismissal but unfortunately for the 21-year-old, there would be more hurt to come.

As his team rallied towards the end of the first half at Fir Park and Ross Tierney restored parity, Cornelius went into the home dressing room at half-time dreaming of inflicting defeat on Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s title challengers. Instead, though, Graham Alexander’s men went home empty-handed as the champions showed their quality with a composed second-half display.

The fixture ended in a 3-1 defeat for the home side and Cornelius admits that he and his team-mates have no one to blame but themselves. After Scott Wright put Rangers in front within minutes of the restart, the Motherwell players’ mentality shifted and they became more reactive: something that Cornelius is keen to avoid repeating.

“It didn’t feel great but these things happen in football; it’s a contact sport,” the Fir Park academy graduate said of Balogun’s challenge.

“I know I’m going to get kicked about because I’m not the biggest in size so it’s part and parcel of the game. But you just need to get on with it.

“We went in at half-time at 1-1 and all the boys believed that we could go on and win. But the early goal took the wind out of our sails.

“You could tell our heads dropped when maybe we shouldn’t have. We were still in it and they were only 10 men. But when you’re playing against that kind of quality it only takes one chance and they can punish you.

“What we’ll do this week is look back at it and analyse it, so we can rectify where we’ve went wrong. We’re better when we’re pressing in front of us and hard to beat, making games difficult and not letting them walk all over us because that’s what they are here to do.”

The loss extends Motherwell’s poor form of late – since the turn of the year, they have won just one of their 14 league fixtures since the turn of the year – yet the prospect of European football next term is very real for the Steelmen.

With more European places on offer thanks to Scottish clubs’ progression in Europe over the last few years, Cornelius accepts that he and his team-mates have Celtic and Rangers to thank for their shot at qualifying for continental competition. And even though the central midfielder admits that Motherwell’s form during the second half of the season hasn’t been good enough, he remains determined to conclude the campaign on a high.

“We’re probably not deserving it [qualifying for European football next season] with our form but it’s a gift and we need to make sure we turn it around and prove we deserve to be there after the start that we had,” Cornelius reasoned.

“There are four games left and we definitely have the chance to push to finish as high as we can in the league. It starts again next week.

“No one wants to be playing for nothing. We have got a chance because of how well the teams have done in Europe and fifth can get Europe this year. Scotland is definitely in a fortunate place with the European places.”

Rangers’ squad depth was on full display on Saturday as Van Bronckhorst made eight changes to his starting line-up with the first leg of the club’s Europa League semi-final against RB Leipzig looming. The visitors were missing a host of first-team players but it mattered little in the end as they secured a comfortable win.

“Teams like Rangers and Celtic can afford to do that with the budget they’re on,” Cornelius added. “When you look at their squad depth it’s frightening.

“They have got top, top quality. But at the end of the day it’s 11 v 11 on the pitch and we need to believe that we can go on and beat them.”