Motherwell boss Stuart McCall admits he was pleased Inverness were dragged through extra-time in Sunday's League Cup final heart-breaker.

McCall's side face the shattered Highlanders on Wednesday just three days after they suffered penalty shoot-out agony against Aberdeen at Celtic Park.

Well trail the Dons by three points in the race to finish second in the Scottish Premiership and a win against John Hughes' men will boost their chances.

McCall said: "Caley had the game last week against Hibs and then they have had to go through the heartbreak of extra-time and penalties in the final - if I'm being honest that's what I wanted to happen.

"We are trying to gain every little bit of advantage we can."

But the Steelmen's manager does not expect Inverness to suffer a cup final hangover.

He said: "They will be ready come Wednesday, there's no doubt about that. They have got too many good professionals in their ranks.

"They have 11 games left and will be doing everything they can to finish in a European slot. It's something they have not done before but I don't think there will be a psychological reaction given the fact they have got a group of experienced professionals who have done terrifically well for the club."

Aberdeen's victory was their first trophy win in 19 years but after watching the Dons follow Kilmarnock and St Mirren to lift the League Cup, McCall admits he spent the rest of his weekend wishing it was his team celebrating with the silverware.

Motherwell were knocked out of the competition in the last eight by Derek McInnes' side after Well striker John Sutton had a goal disallowed while Dons defender Joe Shaughnessy was sent off after just 12 minutes.

"I won't lie, as soon as the final penalty went in, I switched the telly over to the Arsenal-Tottenham match because I didn't want to watch the celebrations," said McCall. "I thought I'd done well watching the game.

"It still hurts that we lost that quarter-final to Aberdeen. It's not sour grapes. I felt we had a good goal disallowed and they defended ever so well with 10 men.

"There was a little bit of jealously there. We want to get to finals and experience these big matches. We won't get that this season so we just need to focus on finishing as high up the table as we can."