There was one surprise in the Motherwell line-up as Carswell was given a rare start in place of McHugh. Ojamaa paired up with Higdon up front.
The initial advantage was with the home side and they had us defending deep for most of the opening ten minutes. Their dominance earned a deflected goal after 13 minutes when Barbour’s low drive into the crowded box flashed off Hammel and into the net giving Randolph no chance.
Humphrey gave us some hope with a few runs down the right that had Tesselaar struggling. Ojamaa had the Killie fans on his back when he failed to persuade the referee (on several occasions) the he had been fouled. Then, following a series of corners, Hutchison had a bulleted header cleared from the line. That was the first of around half a dozen last ditch clearances from the Kilmarnock defence.
The Killie goal came under a barrage as we hunted the equaliser. Headers and shots piled in and it seemed inevitable that we would score. Some brilliant work by Ojamaa on the left set up Lasley at the angle of the six yard box but our captain was left with his head in his hands when he saw a decent chance fly into the stand. The momentum was with the visitors but no goal came by the break.
The pattern continued with Motherwell pressing for the goal that would get us back in the game but we lacked the final, deadly ball on target. With twenty minutes remaining Higginbotham was given his debut when he replaced Carswell but within two minutes we conceded. Gros scored Killie’s second against the run of play with a fine header high into Randolph’s net.
McHugh came on for Ramsden (to the delight of the drum led Motherwell choir) as McCall went for broke. Hateley came off holding his hamstring and Kerr filled the right back slot, but not for long. He took a swipe at Dayton near the corner flag and referee McLaren sent him off. Lasley joined him a couple of moments later. Both reds were for wild lunges and the decision seemed easy for the official.
Our small squad will be two short for next weeks’ game.