Stephen Craigan made one change to his side with Law returning in place of Johnson. The home side kicked off in the glorious autumn sunshine and immediately enjoyed the best of the early exchanges. They had two shots in the opening five minutes but failed to take advantage.
We countered and earned a couple of corners but the story of the first half was of injuries and substitutions. Moult's challenge on Stewart earned a booking but the Dundee striker had to be replaced by Harkins. Minutes later Ainsworth went down and Johnson came of the bench. Then the Dundee captain, Thomson, was felled and young Curran made his debut.
The second half was dominated by Dundee. Just before the hour we failed to clear a crossed ball and in the ensuing passage of play Loy got the touch to open the scoring. Sad to say it never looked likely that we would recover.
We came close to an immediate equaliser when McDonald squared the ball to Johnson but the winger's chance from 12 yards was scuffed and Bain made an easy catch.
The second goal followed the concession of a soft free kick just outside our box. Holt drilled it low, the wall parted, and Ripley was beaten at the corner that should have been protected. Cragan's reaction was to remove McDonald and Lasley and go for broke with Robinson and Fletcher.
Unfortunately the temptation to rush the ball forward with hopeful long balls gave the home defence little trouble and the game petered out. We were given a brief moment of cheer when Pearson pounced on a loose ball at the left side of the box. He directed a low shot to the far corner and it somehow made passage through the crowd to beat the 'keeper.
The interim manager was applauded by the travelling fans as he led his players to the dressing room but it's unlikely that we'll see him in charge when we play Celtic in a fortnight.
Dundee 2 Motherwell 1
Attendance 5,152
Team: Ripley, Grimshaw, McManus, Ainsworth (Johnson 30), Pearson, Lasley (Fletcher 71), Chalmers, Kennedy, Law, Moult, McDonald (Robinson 71)