Motherwell lost 3-1 to Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday, with Motherwell now going five games without a win.
Emmanuel Longelo gave the Steelmen the lead early in the second half, but Claudio Braga equalised just after the hour mark before a controversial penalty gave Lawrence Shankland the opportunity to score from 12 yards in the 87th minute. Pierre Landry Kaboré made sure of the win in the stoppage time, dispatching a third past Calum Ward.
Motherwell named an unchanged 11 for the trip to the capital, with Jens Berthel Askou trusting the same team that were defeated 3-2 by Falkirk seven days ago.
Hearts came into the afternoon one point ahead of Rangers in the title race and had the opportunity to extend their lead at the top to four with Rangers playing on Sunday.
And the home crowd were almost on their feet when Captain Lawrence Shankland latched onto Stephen Welsh’s headed clearance, but the striker’s effort drifted wide of the post.
After conceding that early chance, the Steelmen settled into the match and enjoyed large spells of possession, with Premiership top goalscorer Tawanda Maswanhise causing the Hearts backline some trouble. His cross into the box was in a dangerous area, and Oisin McEntee had to be alert to deal with the danger.
Calum Ward was forced into an excellent save on 21 minutes from McEntee, with Stuart Findlay also coming close from a corner just minutes later.
Motherwell then registered their first big chance of the match after 25 minutes, when Elliot Watt tried to find the top corner with a curling effort, with Alexander Schwolow a match for the strike.
Just five minutes later, Ibrahim Said tried to find the bottom corner with a low effort, but it was well saved by Schwolow once again. With the half time whistle blown, both sides would feel they could go up a gear, and at the start of the second half, that’s exactly what Motherwell did.
With 50 minutes on the clock, a lovely team move from Motherwell led to Maswanhise picking up the ball on the right-wing, he sent the ball into the box to try and find Lukas Fadinger. The Austrian couldn’t connect with the ball, but Emmanuel Longelo was on hand at the back post to knock it home.
Motherwell were firmly in the ascendancy, and Maswanhise was furious with himself when he couldn’t keep his effort on target on 55 minutes, as the Zimbabwean looked for the far corner, but the ball went inches past the post.
And the forward would come to rue that missed opportunity. On 64 minutes, Claudio Braga’s hooked shot towards goal at the back post snuck inside the post, with Ward beaten. Claims for offside were strong from the Motherwell players, but VAR checked the attacking phase and deemed McEntee to be onside, who, if off, would’ve been interfering with play.
Longelo came close to a second when he got on the end of a cross into the box, but on his weaker right foot, the former West Ham player couldn’t keep the effort on target.
Longelo was proving to be involved in everything, and just a minute after his big chance, the full-back found Elijah Just in the box, but the New Zealand international got the connection with the ball wrong, and the shot went wide of the post.
Having missed a number of chances already, it really should have been 2-1 to the Steelmen on 74 minutes. Maswanhise came into the middle of the pitch and spun his marker in the centre circle before driving towards goals. Faking a shot, he sold Findlay a great dummy to give himself a perfect view of the goal, but again, the target was missed with Hearts blowing a big sigh of relief.
With that number of chances squandered, Hearts were hanging in there and would be rewarded for doing so in the 87th minute. Having won a soft free kick on the left-hand side, substitute Pierre Landry Kaboré tried to bring the ball down in the area but instead tried to win an ambitious penalty, now finding himself lying on the floor; the forward blindly flicked his head back, and Welsh, who was attempting to clear the ball standing up, made slight contact with his head. Referee Matthew MacDermid wasn’t interested initially, but VAR believed there to have been a clear and obvious error and brought him to the monitor.
Having watched the replays, the referee opted to ignore the rules regarding endangering an opponent and pointed to the spot to the delight of the home crowd. Shankland stepped up and made no mistake, sending Ward the wrong way. 2-1 with just minutes remaining.
Jens Berthel Askou made four changes as he threw caution to the wind, sending Callum Hendry, Jordan McGhee, Sam Nicholson and Oscar Priestman on to hunt down a late goal. But throwing the kitchen sink meant Motherwell were exposed at the back, and Kaboré completed a counter-attacking move when he drove into the box from the left-hand side and dispatched it into the net to seal the win for the Tynecastle side.
Motherwell Team: Ward, O’Donnell, McGinn, Welsh, Longelo, Watt, Sparrow, Fadinger, Said, Maswanhise, Just.
Motherwell Subs: Connelly, McGhee, Gordon, Priestman, Halliday, McAllister, Hendry, Nicholson, Ross.
