Craig Brown spoilt Jimmy Calderwood's big day as Motherwell eased to a 3-0 win away at Kilmarnock.
Brown prevails in the battle of new bosses
Craig Brown spoilt Jimmy Calderwood's big day as Motherwell eased to a 3-0 win away at Kilmarnock.
All the goals in a crunch contest for both sides came in the second half, with Jim O'Brien breaking a scoring duck which stretched back to April as he bagged a brace.
Lukas Jutkiewicz added gloss to the scoreline late on as he plundered a third for the visitors.
The result gets Motherwell's season back on track under caretaker manager Brown, following five straight defeats, while new Killie boss Calderwood is now in no doubt about the size of the task facing him at Rugby Park.
Saturday's match went ahead despite burst pipes forcing the closure of the stands behind both goals.
The game was a meeting between the two most out-of-form clubs in the SPL, with second-bottom Killie having won only one of their previous nine games and Motherwell on an eight-match winless run.
Two of Brown's picks combined for the first effort on goal in the fourth minute when an under-pressure John Sutton headed Keith Lasley's cross over.
Jutkiewicz then scuffed a low shot wide from 18 yards before a vital Frazer Wright interception denied Sutton from point-blank range.
Jutkiewicz was inches from opening the scoring in the 14th minute with a left-foot strike from 10 yards as Motherwell continued to dominate.
Killie finally had a shot on goal six minutes later when Mehdi Taouil curled just wide from the edge of the area.
Sharp
And they could have led moments later when Craig Bryson was denied by John Ruddy, who made himself big enough to smother the midfielder's shot.
Opposite number Cameron Bell also needed to be sharp to turn the latest Jutkiewicz effort round his near post.
Ross Forbes then curled a free-kick inches wide, so close in fact the visiting fans briefly began celebrating.
Bell raced to the edge of his box to thwart Sutton before Killie began to work their way back into the game.
Kevin Kyle, who still faces disciplinary action from the club over his recent comments in the media, saw a header deflected just past the post.
Jamie Hamill's shot from range was too close to Ruddy but Motherwell had the final say before half-time when Tom Hateley's free-kick whistled just over the bar.
The second half saw both sides regularly surrender possession until 10 minutes in, when the visitors put together the best passing move of the match to take the lead.
The ball was beautifully worked forward to Forbes, who fed O'Brien to finish left-footed across Bell.
The midfielder was booked for going into the crowd to celebrate.
Mark Burchill could easily have levelled moments later but he headed Taouil's cross over the bar.
Dissent
Motherwell were then forced to replace Forbes with Chris Humphrey following a challenge by Hamill, who was soon booked for bringing down O'Brien.
Sutton glanced O'Brien's resulting free-kick just wide.
Kyle was yellow carded for dissent after appealing for a foul which was not given, before Calderwood threw on David Fernandez for Burchill 20 minutes in.
Manuel Pascali followed for James Fowler seconds after Kyle had headed over under pressure.
Fernandez almost made an instant impact when his finish from Taouil's cross was deflected just wide.
But the game looked over 20 minutes from time when Coke burst unchallenged down the Killie right before crossing for O'Brien to slide home his second.
Calderwood made his last change when Gavin Skelton came on for Danny Invincibile, Brown responding by withdrawing O'Brien for Marc Fitzpatrick.
Jutkiewicz put the seal on an emphatic win for the visitors in the 78th minute when he found the corner of the net on the rebound after Sutton's initial shot had been blocked.
A mazy run and thumping angled drive from Humphrey almost made it 4-0 before Jutkiewicz came off for Robert McHugh.
Ruddy prevented Fernandez netting a late consolation, while Kyle's wayward last-minute effort summed up Killie's afternoon.
