Jamie Murphy continued his fine form as Motherwell secured their progress to the Europa League play-offs.
Murphy maintains scoring record as Motherwell make play-offs
Jamie Murphy continued his fine form as a lightning start by Motherwell secured their progress to the Europa League play-offs.
The tie was finely-poised after a 1-1 draw at Aalesund but in just the third minute, Murphy claimed his third goal in as many games and his seventh in Europe.
John Sutton's effort then gave Well a 2-0 lead with just 13 minutes gone before substitute Jonathan Page wrapped up a 4-1 victory on aggregate late on.
The home side were more purposeful in possession during a comfortable first half and stood firm when the Norwegian visitors put them under pressure after the interval.
Lucrative
Well can now look forward to a potentially lucrative tie which is just one step from the group stages and a round further than they achieved last season.
Murphy had broken the club's European goal-scoring record in the first leg and the 20-year-old winger soon extended that as Craig Brown's decision to replace Ross Forbes with winger Chris Humphrey paid off handsomely.
The Englishman burst past his man to latch on to Steven Saunders' throw down the right wing before cutting the ball back for Murphy to hit a first-time effort into the top corner from 16 yards.
The hosts extended their advantage after some patient build-up play in front of the Aalesund back four, which saw the ball laid back to Saunders and the right-back's driven ball into the box was diverted home by Sutton from 14 yards.
Aalesund were lacking the creativity of injured Jamaica winger Demar Philips and were over-reliant on the long ball to 6ft 8in striker Tor Hogne Aaroy before the break, and Darren Randolph commanded his box superbly.
The former Charlton goalkeeper comfortably held Magnus Olsen's header following a Peter Larsen cross when the visitors did carve out a chance.
Wide players Murphy and Humphrey were breaking forward whenever Well got possession, and Murphy had a decent penalty claim when he was bundled over by Trond Fredriksen's clumsy aerial challenge.
Second-half pressure
Olsen turned and fired two yards wide from long range moments after the restart as the visitors began to exert some sustained pressure.
Mathisen looked destined to head home Pablo Herrera's right-wing cross but he failed to make proper contact and Saunders nodded clear.
Motherwell were struggling to keep the ball and faced more nervous moments as their opponents, who are 19 matches into their league season, found an extra gear.
Brown switched from a back four and moved Saunders into a three-man central defence with Tom Hateley now playing at right wing-back, and the tactic helped briefly relieve the pressure.
But Well were still sitting deep and Mark Reynolds needed all of his pace to prevent Aaroy latching on to a flick-on before Ville Jalasto glanced a header just wide from eight yards.
A goal for the visitors would have given Well serious cause for concern and they continued to live dangerously until they killed off any lingering hopes with a third on the break in the 89th minute.
Saunders played the ball forward from the right-back position and Murphy flicked it past the only covering defender before drawing the keeper and unselfishly squaring for Page to stroke into the empty net.
Page, who had replaced Sutton five minutes earlier, was making his first appearance at Fir Park, which erupted in celebration moments later.
