Motherwell's Chris Cadden praises Steelmen fans for backing team until end of Betfred Cup final
The Steelmen effectively had no chance against the reigning treble holders after playing the last half hour trailing by two goals and down to 10 men after Cedric Kipre's controversial sending off by Craig Thomson and the award of an equally soft penalty which Moussa Dembele scored to give the Celts breathing space.
But it didn't stop the 13,000 claret and amber supporters from trying to continue enjoying their day out by giving vociferous backing until the end at the club's first national final for six years.
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Hide AdAnd Scotland under-21 international Cadden said: "The Motherwell fans were unbelievable and I had a wee look at 85 minutes to see if they had left but I don't think a single person had left.
"Credit to them and they could see how hard we were working out there.
"I've always been told that if you work hard, put yourself about then Motherwell fans will love it and that's what everyone does and I think they appreciate it.
"It's hard playing against ten men but with Celtic they bring on players like Tom Rogic and Patrick Roberts and the game was over when we had a man sent off.
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Hide Ad"The red card changes the game and for me it's a soft penalty decision.
"Even at 1-0 I thought we were in the game and Craig Gordon has pulled off an unbelievable save from Moulty's header.
"First half we were good as well because we worked hard but the red card killed it."
Cadden and his mates don't have much time to dwell on Sunday's disappointment as they go straight into a Scottish Premiership encounter against the same opponents tonight (Wednesday) at Fir Park.
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Hide Ad"We can't feel sorry for ourselves," he added. "The good thing about football is there's a game right around the corner so we can go and put it right on Wednesday.
"We're a tight knit group - we win as a team and we lose as a team.
"Cedric is a big enough character and he'll pick himself up. I thought he was brilliant as well. Don't worry about Cedric, he'll be fine.
"It was a great achievement getting to the final because everybody wrote us off for the Aberdeen and Rangers games.
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Hide Ad"As the gaffer said, everybody can hold their head high and be proud of our performance.
"It's tough to take not going that one step further."
Motherwell have a fully fit squad available for tonight's match.