Cedric Kipre: I loved atmosphere against Rangers and want to stay longer at Motherwell

Summer signing Kipre (20), who joined Motherwell from Leicester City, was upset that the Steelmen lost to a disputed penalty kick by Graham Dorrans in a game in which the Steelmen missed some good scoring chances.

“I don’t think it was a penalty,” said the Frenchman a few minutes after the final whistle.

“I didn’t look at the images properly, but I don’t think the ref was on our side today.

“I think we played very well. Especially at the end. We deserved the three points.

“All of us are very disappointed because I think we put a good performance in.

“There are a lot of positives to take from today.

“That’s why we were all disappointed because we feel we could have had a better result.”

Kipre never made a senior appearance for Leicester, who paid £70,000 to take him from Paris St-Germain in 2014.

But the youngster has already impressed fans with his no nonsense style and was man-of-the-match against Rangers in front of a raucous crowd of nearly 10,000 at Fir Park.

“It was my league debut today so I’m very happy to get man-of-the-match,” he added.

“The atmosphere today was amazing. The best I’ve ever experienced as a player.

“It was the first time for me to play in front of lots of people like that.

“So it was very good, I loved it.”

Paris-born Kipre told the Times and Speaker that he’s happy at Motherwell and open to staying at the club beyond the expiry of his one-year contract.

Kipre and his Motherwell mates are now preparing for their second round Betfred Cup clash at Scottish Premiership rivals Ross County tonight (Wednesday).

The Steelmen go into the tie having qualified from Group F with a 100 per cent winning record.

Kipre added: “We need to focus, forget everything about today, train hard and take all the positives from today.

“We need to win on Wednesday to get to the quarter-finals and then hopefully keep winning.”

Motherwell will again bid for their first league win at St Johnstone this Saturday.