BEN HENEGHAN has only been in Scotland a matter of months but he has already been bitten by the Old Firm bug.

The centre-half moved north of the border from Chester to Motherwell during the summer as he aimed to progress his career and sample the big-game atmosphere that the Scottish game provides.

Already he has faced Celtic at Parkhead and last Saturday was part of a Well team that for long parts silenced a packed-out Ibrox.

While Motherwell ended up losing both games – 5-0 and 2-1 respectively – it hasn’t dampened Heneghan’s mood on what has been a memorable start to his career at Fir Park.

“It’s been brilliant,” said the 22-year-old. “I’ve settled in quickly and I’m playing which is a bonus. I’m taking the positives from it.

“The standard has been a step up definitely, which is good for me and my development. I’m looking forward to progressing.

“One [Old Firm game] was better than the other even though we lost them both. On Saturday I thought we did well and to lose with the last kick of the game was heartbreaking.

“It’s brilliant experience to play in front of crowds that big. I’ve never experienced it before so it’s another one to step out and show what I can do.

“The experience and pressure, you get that from these games. The pressure is also on the home side really so it’s good to go out and express yourself.

“Probably about 12,000 in a cup game. Nothing compared to Saturday.”

The upturn in performance level has sent Motherwell rocketing into today’s Ladbrokes Premiership visit of Dundee in high spirits on the back of a period of woe sparked by that Parkhead rout. The side that took the lead at Rangers before being suckered in the dying seconds was unrecognisable to the one that was easily rolled over by both Celtic and Dundee.

That came despite the fact Mark McGhee was still missing the presence of Louis Moult, Stevie Hammell, and Carl McHugh.

The latter will still definitely miss out this afternoon, but the Motherwell manager should be confident those at his disposal can help get their season back on track.

McGhee has been busy this transfer window – Heneghan and McHugh are just two of his signings – but he has not given up on midfielder Lee Lucas who scored earlier this week in an under-20s win over Inverness.

“I went to Inverness, I like Lee, he’s a footballer and brings something a bit different but financially we don’t have much we can do,” said McGhee who witnessed his assistant manager James McFadden roll back the years with a goal of his own.

“Faddy scored with a deflection, he reminded us of what a good player he is even though a lot of boys he was up against was. They must have wondered who this 19-year-old whizz kid is.

“There is no change in Marvin [Johnson] but we are more or less settled other than tossing around names to see if there’s anything we can do which isn’t going to impact on us financially.

“Last Saturday we were very short on experienced players, we will have Hammell and Moult back.

“[Jacob] Blythe will get fitter so we our squad will expand a little bit.”