It was the embarrassment of getting so convincingly beaten by Raith Rovers in the cup which finally prompted Motherwell’s board to part ways with manager Stevie Hammell in February.
Initially, Kettlewell was only appointed as caretaker manager, but consecutive victories against St Mirren and third-placed Hearts led to a permanent role.
In four games under the Glasgow-born 38-year-old – the youngest manager in the Scottish top flight – Motherwell have collected 10 points, as many as they had earned across the previous 18 Premiership matches.
Kettlewell has hauled the Well from joint-bottom up to ninth, with a healthy six-point buffer to the relegation playoff spot and nine points clear of 12th-placed Dundee United.
Michael Beale has enjoyed similar success to Kettlewell since taking over Rangers – winning 15 of his 17 matches at the helm – yet the chasm to Celtic at the Premiership summit is the same nine-point gap he inherited, and his only defeat was against the club’s bitter rivals in the Scottish League Cup final.
Rangers have responded to that Hampden disappointment by winning their subsequent three matches, rattling in 10 goals along the way, but the level of performance has wildly swung between competent and commanding.
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It was more of the former in a “flat” 3-0 win against the Rovers last weekend which Beale admitted “was not one that got the pulses racing
Motherwell have not beaten Rangers in the Scottish top flight in eight years, last recording a victory against the Gers in 2015, which kept the Steelmen in the Premiership at the expense of the Glasgow giants.
That distant 3-0 win was the last time Motherwell have kept a league clean sheet against Rangers, with the Lanarkshire outfit shipping 16 goals across the previous five meetings between the two clubs.
