Jens Berthel Askou hails ‘perfect preparation’ for Motherwell’s cup semi-final

Manager Jens Berthel Askou believes Motherwell’s 2-0 victory over Dundee United was the perfect send-off before their League Cup semi-final against St Mirren on Saturday.

The Fir Park side produced a dominant display to earn back-to-back Premiership victories for the first time this term.

Tawanda Maswanhise opened the scoring shortly before half-time with Elliot Watt netting his first goal for the club with a superb curling strike in the 77th minute.

Askou made five changes from the Motherwell team that defeated Livingston and his rotated line-up produced a confident display to lift them to fifth in the table.

“In many ways it was the perfect preparation,” said Askou.

“With a little more quality and freshness in some of the guys’ legs, we could have probably created another big chance or two to finish off the game even earlier.

“What gives us the most confidence is the performance. There wasn’t a lot of confidence to pull out of the game against Livingston except for some good moments at the end and a team willing to invest enough going forward and attack to win the game.

“If we kept winning like that, it wouldn’t make us overconfident — that kind of fake confidence can catch up with you.

“It’s an indication that we’ve got a good squad with a lot of talented players who can make a difference for us.

“We’ll see over the course of the season if that squad is strong enough to reach the goals we’ve set within the group and the club.

“Right now, we’re seeing a lot of good performances from a lot of different players — that’s exactly what we need.”

Dundee United boss Jim Goodwin held his hands up for his side’s poor first-half display at Fir Park.

The Terrors switched from their usual 3-5-2 formation to a 4-3-3 in an attempt to combat Motherwell’s possession-based approach.

However, they were fortunate to go into half-time only a goal down after a dominant showing from the hosts.

Goodwin’s side improved slightly after the break, though he admits they got what they deserved.

“The opening 45 minutes is on me,” said Goodwin. “If we’d gone in 0-0 at half-time, I think it would have been a miracle because of the dominance Motherwell had — we just couldn’t get near them.

“As manager, I have to take my share of the blame — tactically we got it wrong and that’s on me.

“The players go out there to try to carry out the message I gave them. Unfortunately, I got it wrong and I need to take responsibility.

“Motherwell were by far the better team — they seemed to have an extra body all over the pitch.

“We put on a better performance in the second half and could have taken something on the night. Luca Stephenson was really unlucky at 1-0 to hit the post.

“Though had we taken anything, I don’t think it would have been justified.”