It was a lesson in winning a game the hard way. Enough half chances were created in the first half alone to earn the win but we needed a twelfth minute penalty to open the scoring. Moult fired low to MacDonald’s right hand corner for his third goal in three games. Thomas and Kennedy delivered fine performances and they each received man of the match awards.
We made with three changes from the midweek tie against East Fife; McDonald, Thomas and McManus replaced Laing, Clarkson and Johnson in the starting eleven.
Motherwell had an excellent opening spell that started with Thomas earning a corner inside 30 seconds and ended with the decisive penalty in 12 minutes. O’Hara was the guilty man in the eyes of referee McLean as Moult was felled. Kilmarnock felt the decision harsh but that mattered little to the majority of the 4,136 crowd.
There was some neat interplay with Thomas Ainsworth and McDonald pulling the strings but clear opportunities were harder create. Kilmarnock were rare visitors to Ripley’s area although our man did produce an inspired quick reaction save from Magennis as his flashing drive from the angle of the six yard box was sent for a corner.
The visitors sent Obadeyi on for Higginbotham as the break and Killie had their best spell. They forced us back for the opening minutes but our defence coped well with the aerial threat of Magennis and Boyd.
Thomas was a continual threat and before the hour he reached the dead ball line to send a tempting ball across the face of goal but there were no takers. Theo Robinson, sigen 24 hours earlier, made his debut when he replaced Moult. The striker had a speculative effort high and wide early on but was not much involved thereafter.
Laing replaced Leitch and moved to right back to bolster the defence with Law moving up one and the clean sheet justified the move.
The win moves us up to seventh and with Lasley’s testimonial against Bolton next week the players are able to enjoy a fortnight with the memory of a victory.
Motherwell 1 Kilmarnock 0
Attendance 4,136 (474)
Team: Ripley, McManus, Ainsworth (Johnson 66), Lasley, Chalmers, Kenedy, Moult (Robinson 62), Leitch (Laing 76), Thomas, McDonald