Stevie Frail proud of Motherwell after winning thriller against Dundee Utd

Motherwell assistant boss Stevie Frail hailed the character of his side’s players after they jumped to fourth in the William Hill Premiership with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Dundee United.

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos netted a brace, while Andy Halliday and Tom Sparrow were also on target for the hosts.

Sam Dalby’s double and a late Louis Moult header gave Dundee United hope but they ultimately fell short.

Well boss Stuart Kettlewell had to settle for watching the game from the stands, having accumulated five bookings over the course of the season so far.

Frail admits he is looking forward to the return of the gaffer for Motherwell’s next game against Kilmarnock on Friday evening, but was keen to savour a second successive win.

“It was a bit of a sweat (when it went 4-3) because Dundee United are a good team and put you under a lot of pressure,” Frail said.

“I’m sure it was an exciting game for the neutral, we’re just glad we came out on top.

“I think the players showed tremendous character, to go up 1-0 so early and then lose a goal so quickly – they recovered from that and I think it’s three well deserved points.

“For us to be sitting fourth in the league and 11 points better off than we were last season is testament to the whole squad.”

The former Hearts boss singled out Stamatelopoulos for praise following an impressive showing from the Australia international.

As well as bagging a brace, he also teed up Sparrow for Well’s fourth goal.

Frail said: “He goes and gets the two goals which is fantastic for him – I did fancy him to score today.

“He’ll take immense confidence from his performance. I think you’ve seen today, with his work rate and effort, the way he manipulates his body to put defenders under pressure.”

Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin was disappointed following an uncharacteristically poor defensive showing from his team.

The Terrors travelled to Fir Park having conceded the third fewest number of goals in the league but were punished on the counter by the hosts.

Goodwin also added his players were convinced that Motherwell’s fourth goal should have been ruled out following a handball by Stamatelopoulos in the build-up.

“We didn’t defend the box well enough,” Goodwin said.

“We’ve been given a lot of credit for our defensive displays all season. We’ve got one of the best records in the country and unfortunately today there was a few individual errors.

“When you concede four goals in any game, it’s hard to take anything from it.

“The boys are adamant there’s a handball prior to the fourth goal going in. I’ve not had a good enough angle to see it back, we’ll see what comes of that.”