Stuart Kettlewell heaped praise on Mika Biereth after he claimed a goal and assist in his Motherwell debut.
The Arsenal loanee teed up Connor Wilkinson for the opener then delivered an eventual winner himself in Sunday’s 2-1 home victory over Hibs. Biereth replaced Theo Bair in the second-half and made an instant impact in what had been an otherwise dull affair.
And Motherwell manager Kettlewell admitted he couldn’t be happier with the 20-year-old’s impact.
“He was excellent when he came on,” the Motherwell manager said. “We know he’s got quality.
“He’s still a young lad in the development phase in his career but coming from a club like Arsenal, we know he’s a good player and previously playing in Holland, has been a factor in us thinking he can play here.
READ MORE: Lee Johnson says Hibs lacked 'zip' after Euro exertions as he admits referee frustation
“We are delighted with the impact. You don’t ever know it is going to be like that from the first off, but we’ve seen in training he looks like a guy who can excel at this level, not just with his goalscoring but his workrate and energy. There’s a lot to like about him.”
Adam Le Fondre pulled a goal back with a late penalty, denying Kettlewell the clean sheet he craved.
“The only slight negative was that I thought we were due a clean sheet today.
“We weren’t under a great deal of threat. Our goalkeeper hasn’t made a save in the game and you don’t expect to concede a goal, but that’s me talking about a negative.
“I thought we were good, well-disciplined and organised. We started to carry a greater threat in the second 45, so all in all a pleasing day for us.
“But we are not resting on our laurels. We have a lot more to give.
“Two or three of the strikers haven’t trained this week and we pitched them in. the more work we can get done with them on the pitch, the sharper they will become and the greater threat we will have at the top end of the pitch.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here