Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell lavished praise on Tawanda Maswanhise after his double secured victory over Dundee United at Tannadice.
The Zimbabwean international netted either side of a Sam Dalby goal for the home side.
And Kettlewell admitted the win over United set things up nicely for this weekend’s League Cup semi-final against Rangers at Hampden.
The manager said: “Tawanda is a breath of fresh air as a boy. He has a smile on his face, is a bright lively character and a really good type.
“We’ve known from day one, when we got him in a bounce game to play last minute, he was in the wilderness and he needed a place to play and grow.
“He’s still young and limited experience wise but I thought it was a really good performance and not just his two goals.
“His second was a special finish, first to have the speed and the finish so composed. He becomes the match winner and the headlines are justified.
“My last word before this game was about trying to create the best build-up. Rangers will always be favourites to beat Motherwell in a cup semi-final.
“That’s not being defeatist, that’s the harsh reality. But three points sets up the next three days for us. Football is about belief and confidence and that result gives us confidence.”
United boss Jim Goodwin admitted he was struggling to comprehend how his team had lost the game.
He said: “I can’t believe we’ve lost. They were two incredibly poor goals to concede from our perspective.
“Given how well we played for the majority of the game, I thought we had good control, plenty of scoring opportunities and two or three really good half chances in the second half.
“It’s a real sore one for us. We’d have been disappointed with a point, never mind having lost the game.
“I’m aware the only stat that matters is the result but we had more possession tonight than for a long time, we had 17 or 18 goal attempts. We just weren’t clinical enough when those chances came.”
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