Motherwell
score four without reply against the ten men of Kilmarnock as the bandwagon
rolls on.
It was a
game that Motherwell were expected to win and they delivered in fine style after
a few favourable breaks in the first half.
With a handful
of changes from last week’s cup win Motherwell kicked off in front of an
expectant home support that was close to 7,000.
The usual
pattern soon emerged with the home side having most of the ball and passing through
the opposition but the first significant passage of play fell to the
visitors. Liam Polworth latched on to a
ball over the top then rounded Callum Ward before stroking the ball into the
empty net. Motherwell’s long spell of
home clean sheets was saved after a long VAR intervention that produced an
offside decision.
It was a
wake up call and Emmanual Longelo responded with a couple of shots from distance. The opener came on the half hour and it was a
beauty. Callum Slattery and Eli Just
swapped passes before Just fired home from the left side of the box.
Kilmarnock
were unlucky not to equalise when Tyreece John-Jules saw his header hit the
bar. The home defence did not look comfortable having to cope with a couple of big forwards. Then followed a dramatic few
minutes ahead of the break.
Tom Lowery
earned a second yellow card with a foul on Tawanda Maswanhise inside the centre
circle. After the dismissal Motherwell’s
free kick gave Tom Sparrow the opportunity to cross from the right. Maswanhise was on the receiving end with a
volley to give the Steelmen a two goal advantage over the ten men at half-time.
The contest
was pretty much over as the second half looked like a training session for the ‘Well. Kilmarnock were pinned back as Motherwell
passed and probed in front of the Cooper end goal.
Longelo
squared for Ibrahim Said to make it 3-0 and Lukas Fadinger capped off a fine
afternoon with a fourth late on.
Jens Berthel
Askou was able to introduce new signing Eythor Bjorgolfsson and also give a
debut for Rocco McColm and he watched his charges take a comfortable three
points.
Next up is a
trip to Livingston.
Motherwell 4
Kilmarnock 0
Attendance 7,200
(543)
Team: Ward, Sparrow
(Koutroumbis 60), O’Donnell, Longelo, Priestman (McColm 83), Said (Ross 83), Fadinger,
Just (Stamatelopoulos 70), Slattery, Maswanhise (Bjorgolfsson 60)
Saturday 24
January 2026
