JONATHAN PAGE believes he and his fellow young players at Motherwell gained invaluable experience from the club's involvement in Europe, even though the Fir Park side lost all their matches.
The 22-year-old defender was among those pitched in at the deep end during the brief campaign, making his first start of the season in the 1-0 defeat to Levante in Spain on Thursday.
Page had one shaky moment when he failed to reach Darren Randolph with a header but other than that was pleased with his performance. He said: "It was the first game I've played this season and that is always in the back of your mind. I made a mistake that could have cost us but I got away with it. I thought the younger lads, and I include myself in that, all did well against Levante. You wouldn't have known that our average age was so low. I think we matched them.
"It's great for the club to be involved in Europe and everyone enjoyed the experience even although the scorelines maybe weren't what we were hoping for.
"I would say it was a great lesson for all the boys. I was lucky enough to play in a European qualifier against Flamurtari out in Albania three years ago, when we lost 1-0, and the experience really helped me. You can't beat playing in stadiums like the ones we were at in Athens and Valencia but it's done now and we've got to focus on the league again."
Page is confident Motherwell will not suffer a European hangover when they host Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League tomorrow. He said: "I don't think there will be a problem with a comedown. Everyone is looking forward to what is a big game. Europe is a consequence of doing well in the league so that is our bread and butter."
Terry Butcher believes Inverness's 2-0 victory against Arbroath at Gayfield in the Scottish Communities League Cup in midweek will have boosted confidence after a disappointing 4-2 defeat to Celtic.
The manager said: "It was nice to have a good, solid team performance on the back of a poor display against Celtic. The lads felt rightly aggrieved after the Celtic game that we had been judged immediately on that one match. In five games so far, one we didn't really perform in and in four we have done very well.
"Wednesday night was a case of just getting back out on the pitch and the whole team was eager to show they are good players and that we've had a good start to the season."
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