Motherwell manager Stuart McCall was not surprised to see Steve Jennings return from suspension in style after the midfielder headed home during the 4-0 Scottish Cup triumph over Dundee.
Jennings has missed three matches following his sending-off against Hearts last month. The Liverpool-born player put in an assured display in midfield at Dens Park and headed home Motherwell's third goal in the 81st minute following a Tom Hateley cross.
"No surprise for me," McCall said when asked about Jennings' performance, which was only blotted by a yellow card for his part in a second-half confrontation.
"As I said before, when I was at Bradford I tried to sign him from Tranmere. He put in a performance that I expect him to do week in, week out.
"The only downside again is that he got a silly booking that he is going to have to cut out, but that's just his enthusiasm to help out his team-mates.
"I thought we had a lot of good performances but it's no surprise how Jenno played because I know he has good quality and he is a leader as well."
McCall enjoyed his first win as Motherwell manager despite losing the strikeforce that started his first game in charge, a 0-0 draw at Hamilton.
John Sutton was recalled following the departure of Alan Gow and Nick Blackman while Jamie Murphy was handed a more attacking role.
The outcome could not have been better for McCall with Murphy setting up Sutton to score early in each half before rounding off the scoring with a late solo goal.
"I said before the game we wanted to get Murph down the side of people and then we've got to be physically up for the challenge and hopefully our quality will come through," McCall said. "If you see the quality of the goals it certainly did."
Source: PA
