Kilmarnock’s slump continues with defeat to Motherwell

Motherwell won 3-1 at Kilmarnock to pile further misery on former manager Stuart Kettlewell.

A Tawanda Maswanhise double sent Well on their way to a third victory in four William Hill Premiership games as Killie suffered a sixth consecutive defeat.

Scott Tiffoney’s first goal for Kilmarnock gave the hosts hope but a VAR-assisted penalty award allowed substitute Apostolos Stamatelopoulos to restore Motherwell’s two-goal cushion midway through the second half.

Some of the travelling fans aimed chants of “sacked in the morning” towards Kettlewell, who quit Motherwell in January after claiming personal criticism of him from supporters was driving his family away from games.

The home fans did not join in the chants but with games against Dundee United, Hearts, Rangers and Aberdeen to follow, Kettlewell faces a challenge to keep them onside.

Killie had the first chance of the game after former Motherwell left-back Dom Thompson won the ball and set up Greg Kiltie, whose shot was well-saved by Calum Ward.

But Motherwell were dominating possession and took the lead in the 16th minute after Thompson failed to deal with Emmanuel Longelo’s deep cross. Maswanhise brought the ball down and stabbed it inside Tobi Oluwayemi’s near post.

The Zimbabwe international added his 11th goal of the season 10 minutes later as Motherwell profited from a quickly taken corner for the second game running. Maswanhise’s first effort was blocked after he was set up by Callum Slattery but the wide player fired the rebound high into the net.

Oluwayemi kept Killie in it with a good stop from Slattery, while Ward was untroubled by a series of long-range efforts.

With pre-match fitness doubt Brad Lyons on at half-time, the hosts brought the game back to life four minutes into the second period after catching Motherwell on the counter-attack.

A promising Motherwell move broke down on the left wing and Killie quickly worked the ball forward as Bruce Anderson sent Tiffoney through. The former Dundee player slotted home and was relieved to see a VAR check conclude he was just onside.

Motherwell captain Paul McGinn kept his team in front when he cleared Thompson’s strike off the line and the Steelmen soon benefited from video assistant David Dickinson’s intervention after Lewis Mayo’s penalty-box challenge on Stamatelopoulos.

Referee Ryan Lee ultimately pointed to the spot and Stamatelopoulos sent the goalkeeper the wrong way.

Killie had chances to reignite the game from crosses into the box but Mayo hit the bar and substitute Marcus Dackers stabbed a shot just wide.

And Stamatelopoulos was denied a second goal when Oluwayemi produced a good stop.