Jens Berthel Askou hailed impact of Motherwell striker Tawanda Maswanhise

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou heaped praise on Tawanda Maswanhise after the striker notched his 15th goal of the season in the entertaining 1-1 draw at Hibernian.

The Zimbabwe international finished off a devastating counter attack from the Steelmen in the 52nd minute, drilling a low shot across goalkeeper Rafa Sallinager from a tight angle.

But the visitors were pegged back by a Kieron Bowie equaliser in a gripping second half that swung from end to end.

And Askou admits he is delighted with Maswanhise’s contribution as the Steelmen maintained their two-point gap over Hibs.

He said: “There’s been a lot of debate and a lot of discussion, which is natural, about us needing a goalscorer.

“Throughout the season we have used him as a nine and you see he’s a constant threat in so many ways, not just running in behind but also 1v1 inside the box where he can find good positions – and today he got a beautiful goal.”

The Dane admits keeping the likes of Maswanhise and Elliot Watt – who has been linked with Rangers – this month is crucial as Motherwell look to finish off their impressive campaign in style.

He added: “I think you are spot on there, it is a big thing for us.

“That’s the main plan, to make sure that this team gets the maximum out of this group of players, gets the maximum out of this season and then we know in the summer it’s a bigger window.

“So that’s the main track for us and then obviously there’s a few gaps here and there and we’ll see if we can fill them with quality like we did in the summer. There were a lot of gaps we had to fill.”

Hibs striker Bowie – also linked with a switch to Rangers – marked his return to the starting line-up with his ninth of the season and Gray was delighted with the Scotland international’s display.

He added: “I made a couple of changes today but that was purely tactical on what I wanted to see.

“And I thought Kieran was a big part of that, especially in the first half when he did hold the ball up with a bit more physicality, a bit more aggression in the way we wanted to play.”

Asked about transfer speculation surrounding Bowie, Gray added: “You want to keep as many players in as you can but one thing we can’t do anything about is speculation. That’s always going to be there.

“As soon as the window opens, that’s naturally going to happen.

“You mentioned Kieran Bowie, I’m sure between now and the end of the window that will come up again.

“Josh Mulligan gets mentioned. We’ve got a lot of players that will attract attention because they’re playing at a high level.”