Motherwell head into Saturday's League Cup semi-final on a high after recording consecutive Scottish Premiership victories for the first time this season by downing Dundee United.

Goals in either half from Tawanda Maswanhise and Elliot Watt were more than enough to see off United, who put in an insipid display in the first half.

Jens Berthel Askou's side will now face St Mirren at Hampden full of confidence after another performance that won points as well as plaudits.

Maswanhise's goal crowned an opening 45 minutes that Motherwell dominated.

They attacked down the left, with Emmanuel Longelo sliding in a cross that Zimbabwe international Maswanhise jabbed in first time.

There were further chances to make it a two-goal lead. Maswanhise missed a one-on-one before Callum Hendry had one cleared off the line, but there was no stopping Watt's effort.

Twenty yards from goal, he curled the ball with the inside of his foot to the goalkeeper's right. He could have been closed down quicker, but the strike was phenomenal.

Motherwell rise to fifth in the league but sit just a point off third place, leapfrogging United in the process.

Askou was surprisingly candid when talking about Motherwell's performance on Saturday, when they eked out a 2-1 win over Livingston.

He wasn't happy with it, to put it plainly. Some players were dropped after their performance, apparently. Nothing to do with the approaching semi-final.

While the midfield has not struggled for form in his absence, Callum Slattery's return from injury was an enormous boost. He has added another dimension, another creator, another player happy to play the Askou way.

Those principles become clearer game by game. Neat, tidy, occasionally penetrative possession. They still need more up top, though.

For all that possession - 72% in the first half, with 200 more passes than United - they only had six shots and two on target.

But they also restricted United to very little, who only had one chance of note throughout the match.

That came in the 70th minute, when Luca Stephenson hit the base of a post following a Dario Naamo cutback.

Jim Goodwin said pre-match that they were expecting a very different game to the one they faced against St Mirren on Saturday. He said they needed to be disciplined out of possession.

They weren't, and Motherwell pulled them apart when they did score.

The change to a back four didn't really work and the half-time subs didn't do a great deal either. A night to forget for Goodwin and his side.

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou tells BBC Scotland: "The win is important but the performance was more important because we needed to raise it from the other day [against Livingston]. It wasn't good enough.

"Many other times, had we delivered that performance, we would not have won the game. We might as well have lost it. Today was much better, much more controlled and dominant.

"The first half we were in full control, and it opened up a little. They tried to be man-to-man orientated. The second goal killed the game off a little and then we had good defensive structure at the end."

Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin told BBC Scotland: "We were really poor on the night, but I don't want to take anything away from Motherwell - I thought they were excellent, particularly in the first half.

"I've got to take my share of the blame in that because tactically, I don't think we got it right. We made changes, we were able to commit more bodies forward, be more aggressive in our press.

"In the first half, we were too cautious. Motherwell want the press, want you to come onto them, they want to break lines and take your midfield out the game. They caused us numerous problems."

Motherwell face St Mirren at Hampden in the League Cup semi-final on Saturday (17:30) while Dundee United must wait to play Hearts on Sunday 9 November (15:00).