The opening ten minutes were nothing like a derby with little to excite the fans. The visitors were first to threaten when Graeme Smith was forced to save from Richard Offiong's shot on the turn.
Motherwell started to create chances of their own but their own striker Chris Porter managed to block efforts from team-mates John Sutton and Paul Quinn.
Then on the half-hour mark Motherwell took a grip of the game and scored when they were on top in the 37th minute. Alex Neil fouled Stephen Hughes on the edge of the box allowing Bob Malcolm to fire in a free-kick which Porter flicked past Tomas Cerny.
Accies should have been back level only minutes later when Simon Mensing sent Mark Corcoran clear with an excellent through ball. The former St Mirren winger could only pull his shot well wide with only Smith to beat.
After the break the home side started the better as they looked to put the game away as they created chance after chance. Dave Clarkson and Sutton missed early efforts, before Porter missed the best chance of them all.
Sutton's cross was inch-perfect for Porter and although his header beat Cerny it came off the inside of the post and back into the keeper's arms.
Porter made up for this miss when he doubled Motherwell's lead on 67 minutes. Clarkson worked space for himself at the edge of the box before firing a shot goalwards and Porter tapped in from close range.
The striker looked to be in an offside position and this led to protests from the Accies players, leading to a booking for keeper Cerny who took his protest with the assistant referee too far.
Motherwell saw time out comfortably and indeed could have extended their lead further, with Cerny having to save from Jamie Murphy and Porter to keep their score at 2-0.