Motherwell won 3-1 at Kilmarnock, inflicting further misfortune on former manager Stuart Kettlewell.
A Tawanda Maswanhise double sent Well on their way to their third win in four Premiership games as Killie suffered a sixth successive defeat.
Scott Tiffoney’s first goal for Kilmarnock gave the hosts hope, but a VAR-assisted penalty allowed substitute Apostolos Stamatelopoulos to restore Motherwell’s two-goal cushion midway through the second half.
Kilmarnock have lost their last six Premier League games.
Some of the traveling fans chanted “fired in the morning” at Kettlewell. Kettlewell quit Motherwell in January after claiming personal criticism from supporters had driven his family away from the game.
The home fans did not join in the chants, but with games against Dundee United, Hearts, Rangers and Aberdeen following, Kettlewell faced the challenge of keeping them in line.
Killie had the first chance of the game after former Motherwell left-back Dom Thompson won the ball and set up Greg Kiltie. Greg Kiltie’s shot was well saved by Calum Ward.
But Motherwell dominated possession and took the lead in the 16th minute after Thompson failed to deal with Emmanuel Longello’s deep cross. Maswanhise brought the ball down and poked it inside Tobi Oluwayemi’s near post.
Motherwell’s Tawanda Maswanhise celebrates his opening match against Kilmarnock.
The Zimbabwe international added his 11th goal of the season 10 minutes later when Motherwell quickly won a corner for their second of the game. Maswanhise’s first-time attempt was blocked by Callum Slattery, but the wide man fired the rebound high into the net.
Oluwayemi kept Killie in check with a good stop from Slattery and Ward had no trouble with a series of long-range efforts.
With Brad Lyons out at half-time after his pre-match fitness was questioned, the hosts restarted the game four minutes into the second period after catching Motherwell on a counter-attack.
A promising Motherwell move broke down on the left wing and Killie quickly moved the ball forward as Bruce Anderson put Tiffoney through. The former Dundee man returned home and was relieved after a VAR check concluded he was onside.
Motherwell were awarded a penalty for a Mayo foul on Stamatelopoulos.
Motherwell captain Paul McGinn kept his side in front when he cleared Thompson’s strike off the line and the Steelmen soon benefited from video assistant David Dickinson’s intervention following Lewis Mayo’s penalty box challenge on Stamatelopoulos.
Referee Ryan Lee eventually pointed to the spot and Stamatelopoulos sent the keeper the wrong way.
Killie had a chance to bring the game back into the box through a cross, but Mayo hit the bar and substitute Marcus Dackers poked home a shot.
And Stamatelopoulos was denied a second goal when Oluwayemi had a good shot over.
