Ben Heneghan has waited almost a year to come to Motherwell.

Now he is finally in claret and amber, the defender has pledged to soak up as much experience as he can to help him follow in the footsteps of the man he replaced.

The 22-year-old joined on a two-year contract from Chester and has slotted straight into Mark McGhee’s team to fill the jersey left by Ben Hall, who left Fir Park during the summer for Brighton.

Even though Heneghan has only been at the Ladbrokes Premiership club since last week, he has revealed he was aware the Lanarkshire outfit’s interest for a chunk of last season.

And with the likes of Stephen McManus at his side, the centre-half is keen to make up for lost time and soak up as much of the former Celtic and Scotland captain’s experience as he can.

"I'm loving it, to be honest. The lads made me feel welcome as soon as I got here and I've settled in to my own place,” he said.

"He [McManus] is a big help. He has loads of experience with all the games he has played in so that's massive for me. I'm trying to learn as much as I can from him.

"I'd like to say hopefully [he can do for me what he did for Hall]! I just have to concentrate on my own game, do what I can, learn as much as possible from Stephen and see where it takes me.

"To be honest it was from the start of last season that I started to get whispers that they were interested.

"I'd signed a new deal at Chester but they spoke to me and that's me here now.

"I'd watched a few games on telly since the interest came in. I was really keen so I thought I'd do a background check.

"I was impressed with the standard. It's a massive step up for me coming up from the conference so I thought I'd throw myself in and see how I deal with it.”

Heneghan is almost certain to start again this evening as Motherwell take on East Stirlingshire at Fir Park in their third Betred Cup tie.

The Steelmen currently sit on three points from their first two games, and Heneghan is excited about the chance of another game to showcase his talent.

"It was good to get three points and we have to take that into this game,” he said. We've got to win, it's as simple as that.

"It's a big platform for me. There's a lot of games on telly up here so it's good to showcase your performances.

"Other clubs may have shown interest but interest is interest. It means nothing really.

"Motherwell were keen to sign me from day one and I wanted that to happen, that's why I'm here.

"I knew a couple of the players here. Moulty used to play in the national league with me so I knew him. I also knew a few other players who came up here and progressed so that made me know it was the right thing to do.”

Meanwhile, Motherwell are set to give a game to trialist Craig Clay.

The 24-year-old midfielder has been training with the club after being released by Grimsby.

Under SPFL rules, trialists are not permitted to play in these games. However, Motherwell are hopeful of getting him tied up on a short-term deal in order to see him in competitive action.