Kilmarnock 0 Motherwell 1

Louis Moult came off the bench to snatch Mark McGhee's first victory in his second spell as Motherwell boss. Moult toe-poked home from about 10 yards with three minutes left as Motherwell benefited from a throw-in near the corner flag to claim a 1-0 Premiership victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. A competitive game looked set to end goalless but Moult's sixth goal of the season earned Motherwell their fourth point in two away games under McGhee, who handed starts to Scott McDonald, Theo Robinson and Lionel Ainsworth for the first time. There was little in the game although there far more chances in the second half than the opening period. An unchanged Killie started brightly and threatened to make inroads down the right but Motherwell settled down, although home captain Rory McKenzie had the first decent chance only for Joe Chalmers to divert the shot off target. After Ainsworth and Kevin McHattie were booked for a confrontation, McDonald got the first shot on target in the 37th minute but the ball trundled straight to Jamie MacDonald from 22 yards. McKenzie had two efforts in the final moments of the half but shot straight at Connor Ripley from 25 yards and then could not guide his header on target after getting in front of Josh Law to meet Mark O'Hara's cross. Motherwell dominated the opening stages of the second half. Marvin Johnson twice got past O'Hara but there were no takers from his centres and Law's deflected cross from the opposite side just evaded McDonald. Robinson then headed an Ainsworth corner on target but MacDonald held. There was a flashpoint 10 minutes into the half when Stuart Findlay claimed he was headbutted by Robinson after a body-check on the striker but Bobby Madden only booked the Kilmarnock defender. The pair shook hands as Robinson was taken off for Moult soon after. Josh Magennis beat Ripley to O'Hara's high cross but the header drifted wide and the Motherwell goalkeeper redeemed himself with a decent stop from Kallum Higginbotham's powerful strike from 22 yards. Chalmers and McKenzie were both booked for hauling back opponents as the game grew scrappier but Kilmarnock's Greg Kiltie lifted standards with a well-timed volley but could not keep the shot down. Magennis headed just wide as Motherwell struggled to deal with crosses from both flanks before the Northern Ireland forward was belatedly booked for diving after going down under a Stephen McManus tackle. Higginbotham volleyed wide as Kilmarnock continued to press but Moult was only a yard away from meeting Johnson's cross on a Motherwell break. But the winner came after Stephen Pearson's shot was blocked and Moult forced a good injury-time save after turning Findlay.