Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell was left gushing over Heart of Midlothian-bound Blair Spittal after a double against Ross County.

The highly-rated midfielder is understood to have signed a pre-contract with Steven Naismith's side and is set to join his team-mates upon the expiry of his Fir Park deal.

Hearts pipped other Scottish Premiership clubs to the creative midfielder - who will be joined by James Penrice and Yan Dhanda at Tynecastle next term - who has notched 13 goals this season.

READ MORE: Why Hearts signed Motherwell's Blair Spittal on pre-contract

The 28-year-old offered yet more evidence as to why he was signed by Naismith as he scored twice in a 5-1 victory for Motherwell in the Highlands.

Spittal opened the scoring after just eight minutes as he pounced on a goalkeeping error to slide home before bagging his second of the afternoon on 82 minutes with a beautiful curling effort into the top corner from the edge of the box.

Current manager Kettlewell saluted another "fantastic" performance from Spittal as he insisted he had no doubts over the player's commitment despite having signed a deal at Hearts.

The Motherwell manager explained: “When you know the character of the man, it’s never a problem. When you get the chance to go to a bigger club and earn more money – whatever job you do – you tend to jump at the chance. If I felt it was going to be a problem, you wouldn’t have seen him again, but not for one second have I thought it would be an issue.

“His performances have been fantastic, and I understand why a club like Hearts want to try and sign Blair Spittal. If you talk about those old-fashioned attacking midfield players, I think he sits right at the top of this division.”