Emmanuel Longelo feeling confident at Motherwell under Jens Berthel Askou

Motherwell left-back Emmanuel Longelo revealed that his time at Fir Park is going just how manager Jens Berthel Askou predicted.

The 24-year-old bought into the Dane’s sales pitch in the summer to join from Birmingham, and he has already scored five goals and helped Motherwell become one of the surprise packages of the season.

The Steelmen are on a nine-match unbeaten league run, have kept five consecutive clean sheets and will jump back above Rangers into third place in the William Hill Premiership if they beat Dundee at Fir Park on Saturday.

Longelo said: “The expectations were high. When I spoke to the manager before joining, he said it would pan out like this. So I had that trust and belief.

“He’s a man-to-man coach who will let you know what you need to improve on, what you’re doing well. So he just gives you that correct balance. You have that respect for him, he has that respect for you.

“I’m pretty sure he has a good relationship with all the players, so everyone wants to work for him.

“If I just continue to listen to him and keep working every day, I believe I’ll be able to go to the next level with his help.

“I feel like we have a good group here. Everybody’s humble and everyone just wants to work hard and do well for themselves and for the team as well.”