Declan Gallagher says winning ugly is just as satisfying as winning in style as the Motherwell captain looks to build on a week of success for his side at Aberdeen today.
The Steelmen bagged their first Premiership win of the season last week with a 1-0 win over St Johnstone and ground out a Europa League victory over Coleraine on penalties on Thursday night with 10 men.
The side they pipped to third spot last season are up next and Gallagher reckons their performance in Northern Ireland shows they can now grind out wins.
Gallagher, whose side are bottom of the table going into the clash at Pittodrie, said: "At the end of the day you have to win the game ugly sometimes.
"The fact we were playing such good football [earlier in the season] with 70 or 65 per cent possession, the games we've got results in we've probably had 40 per cent possession, so it shows you that winning ugly is just as good as winning pretty.
"But to go to down to 10 men and show the character we did, we deserve a bit more respect for how we came through that game at the end.
"It shows the team spirit and the character we are showing now.
"We are not a soft touch and we are battling for everything.
"We want to take this result into Sunday and get another good result.
"Aberdeen got a good result away as well in Norway against Viking and in the league they are going strong, so it will be a very hard game.
"We know how hard it was last year against them so we are under no illusions.
"It will be a tough game and one both sides will think they can win.
"It will maybe do us a wee favour that we have both come back from European football, so there’s going to be a few knocks and bruises in both camps, but we will be ready for the game no matter what.”
A huge weight was lifted off the Steelmen when Allan Campbell's strike sealed a league victory at the seventh attempt.
And Gallagher added: "It's always important getting that first win.
"It went on a little longer than we'd hoped, but at the end of the day I don't think we've been playing badly.
"The one game we've won was probably our worst game of the season, but we won it.
"Every other game I felt we've played well and lost, we just didn't get that rub of the green.
"It's good to get the monkey off the back and hopefully that kicks us on."
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