Manager Mark McGhee was delighted to see his Motherwell side recover from a shaky start and hold Rangers to a 1-1 draw at Fir Park.
"We were poor in the first half," he told BBC Sport. "Rangers out-muscled us and we were lucky just to be one goal down at the interval.
"But we turned it around after the break and rescued a good performance.
"We took the game to them and we had to defend well as they threw everything at us in the period after our goal."
Motherwell clinched a third-place finish with last weekend's win over Aberdeen.
And the players clapped the fans on a lap of honour after the game.
All wore number 10 shirts to commemorate late captain Phil O'Donnell, who died from heart failure while playing in December.
"Football clubs are all about supporters," McGhee added.
"There has been a lot of disappointment over the last few years, but we have given them some good performances and they have seen some good goals.
"The fans have got a little bit of pride back in their team.
"Now we have European football to look forward to.
"We have seen what Rangers did and, more realistically, we saw Aberdeen progress from the Uefa Cup group stage.
"If we could go on a journey like that, it would be a fantastic experience for us and part of the development of many of these young players."
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