Apostolos Stamtelopoulos scored Motherwell's third from the penalty spotSNS

Apostolos Stamtelopoulos scored Motherwell's third from the penalty spot

At a glance

  • Maswanhise scores twice for Motherwell in first half

  • Tiffoney pulls one back after break but Stamatelopoulos nets from spot

  • Motherwell consolidate in top six

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Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland at Rugby Park

Tawanda Maswanhise's first-half double helped Motherwell to all three points at Rugby Park and condemned Kilmarnock to a sixth straight Scottish Premiership defeat.

With two goals from their first two shots on target at Rugby Park, Motherwell appeared to finally be matching performances to results and found themselves deservedly in front at half time.

Kilmarnock, riddled with injuries, continue to struggle both in defence and attack and find themselves fighting at the bottom end of the Premiership table already.

Despite a decent start for Stuart Kettlewell's hosts, it was Motherwell who struck first when Maswanhise met Emmanuel Longelo's cross at the far post.

And the forward found the visitors' second 10 minutes later as he stabbed the ball beyond Kilmarnock goalkeeper Tobi Oluwayemi.

The hosts pulled one back just four minutes into the second half as Scott Tiffoney made a cracking run in behind the Motherwell defence and beat Calum Ward.

Kilmarnock almost followed it up with a quick second but Motherwell captain Paul McGinn cleared Dominic Thompson's shot off the line, before David Watson attempted a Scott McTominay-esque overhead kick that was well wide of the target.

Apostolos Stamatelopoulos got Motherwell's third from the penalty spot, sending Oluwayemi the wrong way after referee Ryan Lee deemed Lewis Mayo's challenge on the Motherwell striker a foul, after being called to the screen.

The result leaves Kilmarnock near the bottom of the Premiership table with just 10 points, while Motherwell move up to sixth, one point behind Falkirk with a game in hand.

Analysis: Motherwell reaping rewards but Killie struggles continue

Graphic

While it wasn't the first-half onslaught Motherwell supporters have become used to - Jens Berthel Askou's men only created two big chances in the first half - they found themselves in an unusual position of being comfortably in front at the break.

Maswanhise's first-half double came from Motherwell's first two shots on target and helped the side vastly outperform their expected goals of 0.79.

Despite conceding early in the second, the visitors didn't falter and, once they'd settled, started to look dangerous again with six more shots, and one big chance.

That penalty came at the right time and they looked very comfortable with their two-goal advantage for the remainder of the match.

Kilmarnock were poor in defence and gave the ball away cheaply in the first 45 minutes.

In fact, their passing accuracy in the final third was less than 60% in the first half. For context, Motherwell's was almost 74%. Kilmarnock had 100 accurate passes in the first half compared to Motherwell's 224.

Tiffoney's goal seemed to spark Kettlewell's side into life - they had six shots, three on target, in the first 15 minutes of the second period. That spark was quickly extinguished as Motherwell found a third goal.

Even though their touches in the opposition box, final third entries, shots and shots on target outnumbered Motherwell's in the second half, Kilmarnock failed to make any of that count and didn't do enough to take something from the game.

What they said

Kilmarnock manager Stuart Kettlewell: "When you look at the result, it looks like a dominant display from Motherwell. I didn't feel that, I didn't see that.

"The two goals in the first half were avoidable. This is something we continue to do to ourselves; it's self-inflicted.

"The dominance we had for a spell in the second half, that's what we expect."

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou: "The way we were able to control the game for the most part pleased me. We knew this was going to be a moments game, it's such a difficult place to play.

"There was a lack of concentration, and we allowed them to get back into the game. But from then on, we dealt really well with their direct play and them trying to overload our backline and create something from a second ball or a cross."

What's next?

Motherwell welcome Hibernian to Fir Park on Tuesday 25 November (19:45 GMT) before Hearts visit on Saturday 29 November (15:00).

Kilmarnock are at home again when they face Dundee United next Saturday (17:45).

Player of the match

T. Maswanhise
8.56
12 D. Watson
5.90
17 S. Tiffoney
5.17
3 D. Thompson
5.00
5 L. Mayo
4.64
19 B. Anderson
4.46
15 J. Brown
4.40
8 B. Lyons
4.20
4 Z. Williams
4.08
6 R. Deas
4.00
11 G. Kiltie
3.83
24 T. John-Jules
3.70
26 B. Brannan
3.56
18 T. Lowery
3.50
20 T. Oluwayemi
3.45
23 M. Watkins
3.36
9 M. Dackers
3.25
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