Greg Kiltie scored twice to lift Kilmarnock off the bottom of the Scottish Premiership with a 3-2 victory over Motherwell.

Kiltie struck first and last as Neil McCann's side inflicted a fifth consecutive defeat on the Steelmen, who join Killie in the bottom three, one point off bottom-placed Hibernian.

Motherwell had a dominant spell after recovering from Kiltie's second-minute opener and goals from Alex Lowry and Seb Palmer-Houlden turned the game on its head.

But Tyreece John-Jules soon equalised and Motherwell were cut open before Kiltie knocked home a 69th-minute winner.

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Given their run, Motherwell fans would have feared the worst when their team gifted Kilmarnock a goal with little over 60 seconds on the clock.

Goalkeeper Alex Paulsen misplaced a short pass into central midfield and Kiltie ultimately converted after some desperate defending.

Worse almost followed several moments later when Well centre-back Martin Moorman lost possession midway inside his own half, but Joe Hugill dragged his shot wide.

But the visitors levelled in the 17th minute when Lukas Fadinger sent Emmanual Longelo down the left wing. Calum Ferrie made a great stop after Palmer-Houlden got on the end of the left-back's low cross but Lowry kept his composure to fire the rebound into the bottom corner.

Motherwell took control as Killie struggled to keep possession inside their own half. Maswanshise hit the post from 25 yards and scuffed a decent chance wide, and Ibrahim Said forced a good save from Ferrie.

Neil McCann brought on Jamie Brandon for on-loan Hearts right-back MJ Kamson-Kamara in the 33rd minute in a bid to deal with the twin threat of Longelo and Said. He was forced into another change two minutes later when the injured Bailey Rice went off for Aaron Tshibola.

The hosts improved towards the end of the half. Paulsen got down well to stop a John-Jules drive after Motherwell failed to deal with a long ball and the unmarked Tom Lowery volleyed well over.

Killie were grateful for a VAR intervention after referee Calum Scott sent George Stanger off for a high boot on Lowry. The punishment was downgraded to a yellow card after a trip to the monitor.

Motherwell were soon in front in the 56th minute after a low cross from Said. Palmer-Houlden was denied at close range by Ferrie but the ball ricocheted in off the centre-forward.

The visitors' lead only lasted two minutes. Two Motherwell defenders were barged off the ball as Brandon headed the ball back into the box after a half-cleared corner and John-Jules produced an emphatic finish.

Brandon delivered another assist when his crossfield pass played in Kiltie, who again slotted into the far corner.
Paulsen made saves from substitute Ieuan Owen and Hugill to keep Motherwell in it.

Alfred Johansson's side struggled to create chances though, and Ferrie saved from Johnny Koutroumbis deep in stoppage time when the substitute found himself in a good position.

Johansson bemoans 'low-level' defending

Motherwell manager Alfred Johansson:

"I'm very, very disappointed and frustrated with how we end this game. It's extremely difficult to accept the fact that we lost this game.

"Obviously we make it difficult for ourselves right at the start as well, but that can happen in football, you make a mistake and get punished in that way.

"But we reacted fantastically and the rest of the first half is very, very good. We're pressing together, we're aggressive, we catch them on the break, we create chances.

"They start going long into the strikers with one touch and we just don't defend those long balls well enough.

"I don't think we're winning enough second balls and also, prior to the second goal, for instance, we have the ball under control, but we give it away way too easy.

"We have chances to score more than two goals but we can't rely on scoring three goals away from home. We need to be much more solid. It's just way too low a level, how we defend."

McCann: We showed spirit and character

Kilmarnock boss Neil McCann:

"I talk about the spirit that I've got in that dressing room now.

"I talk about the character, with a group of boys that have taken a wee bit of time to come together, and I thought second half we were absolutely brilliant.

"We had a couple of wee things that we tinkered with, in terms of where we wanted to get at Motherwell.

But, tactics aside, that was just about them saying, 'no, we're going to get ourselves back in that game, and we look to go and try and win it'."

What the result means and next fixtures...

• Kilmarnock fixtures
• Motherwell fixtures
• Scottish Premiership fixtures

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