Motherwell boss Mark McGhee is confident his side have the strength of character to cope with their two-pronged challenge for glory.

Well face Dundee in the Scottish Cup on Monday night, two days after giving their UEFA Cup hopes a boost with a last-gasp Clydesdale Bank Premier League victory over Kilmarnock.

McGhee's men will have to get used to a busy schedule after a raft of postponements following the death of Phil O'Donnell and drainage problems with their now-repaired pitch.

The club last qualified for Europe in 1995 and their last serious challenge was eight years ago, when they blew a 12-point lead over Hearts to miss out on the final day.

But McGhee believes the current crop of players have the mentality to cope with the challenge.

They showed such strength of character in their first game since O'Donnell's death when they forced a fourth-round replay against Hearts with a late fightback.

And they displayed resilience to keep striving for a goal on Saturday to claim three points against Killie with David Clarkson's injury-time winner.

And McGhee believes that mental toughness will prove crucial in the coming weeks, with the prize for victory tonight a cup quarter-final at Queen of the South.

He said: "Going 2-0 down at Tynecastle and coming back to get through that tie in the second leg shows they have a strong mentality, I have no fears of that.

"We will just get them ready, get them out there and hope they produce the type of football they have been producing.

"If they do they will beat most teams in this division. That's all we can do, we know they are fit, we know they are mentally right, we know they are tough, we know they have got ability.

"We know they can have a bad day as well, and some days they will have a bad day. They had a bad day against St Mirren and lost.

"That's going to happen, we are not going to fall out with them because of it, they are human beings but mostly, I think they will play well."

McGhee will be without suspended right-back Paul Quinn, with Brian McLean possibly in line to make only his second start of the season, while Chris Porter is likely to miss out again.

Dundee manager Alex Rae has a clean bill of health but will be without Mickael Antoine-Curier and Colin McMenamin who are both cup-tied.

He said: "Motherwell are flying high at the moment and we know it will be a tough game, but we are keen to give a good account of ourselves."

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