Donald Jennow expects to see a reaction from his side when they take on Spartans for the second time in seven days on Sunday.
The women of steel suffered a highly disappointing 5-0 defeat against Debi McCulloch’s team at Ravenscraig last weekend.
Five goals in 20 first half minutes put the tie out of sight and Jennow admits he was shellshocked by his team’s below par showing.
A return to league business against their last opponents presents an opportunity for ‘Well to bounce back and the head coach is stressing the need for a much improved performance.
“I think last week caught us all a bit off guard,” he said. “It’s not a reflection of my team and so as group we have to put it down to a bad day and make sure that that kind of thing doesn’t happen again.
“After Monday’s analysis we put the game to bed and the focus has been on the next game since then.
“It wouldn’t matter who it was against, we know we have to play better.
“Scottish football often throws up these back to backs which can work either way for you.
“Ultimately the next game is a chance to prove last week was an anomaly.”
In a game where positives were few and far between, one glimmer of light for Motherwell was they didn’t concede again after Zoe-Ann Johnstone put Spartans 5-0 ahead after just before the half hour mark.
Jennow insists he has no doubts regarding the resilience within his squad, but feels they must improve their focus.
“I would hate anyone to see my team chuck it,” he added. “That would hurt more than any scoreline.
“We had a bit of a melt down for 20 minutes and that killed the game.
“After the half hour we created chances and did a bit better, but the damage was done.
“Resilience isn’t a concern for me with this group but we need to concentrate more. The unexpected part of Sunday’s game was our performance.
“After defending well against Celtic and being really competitive, we did neither in against Spartans.
“We all know the consequences of not doing those two things so we all expect to improve.”
After registering four points from their opening four league encounters, ‘Well occupy fifth spot in an already tightly contested SWPL1 table.
Though Jennow insists he’s paying little attention to the table at this early stage he is well aware of the importance of making the most of scoring opportunities.
Motherwell have failed to score in their last three games and Jennow knows that his team need to be more clinical.
“The table is irrelevant to me right now,” he added. “Everyone has played different teams in different conditions.
“The table matters in the final round of games once everyone has played home and away.
“All our focus is on the next game and we want as many points from each game as we can.
“Taking chances is massive for us. Top tier teams don’t give you as many and don’t make as many mistakes so you have to work that much harder to create.
“When we do the work to get a chance, we need to capitalise.”