Motherwell continued their unbeaten start in the William Hill Premiership this season with a comfortable 3-0 win over Dundee United at a wet Fir Park.
The hosts made an emphatic start and were further boosted when Emmanuel Agyei saw red for a high tackle on Alex Lowry after 14 minutes. From there, Alfred Johansson’s side took full control of proceedings, with Seb Palmer-Houlden scoring his first Motherwell goal just five minutes later.
Motherwell continued to push forward and eventually got their second of the evening through Alex Lowry just after the hour mark, with debutant Dylan Levitt adding a third minutes later.
Following his perfect debut on Sunday afternoon, Jardell Kanga was awarded his first start in the claret and amber, replacing Ibrahim Said, who dropped to the bench for the first time this season. Palmer-Houlden was also brought into the 11 in place of Regan Charles-Cook.
Levitt was named amongst the subs after putting pen to paper on a two-year deal from Leyton Orient earlier in the week.
Dundee United arrived at Fir Park off the back of a 4-0 thumping at Kilmarnock, their biggest away victory in the top-flight since November 2013, ironically against Motherwell. They were, however, without manager Jim Goodwin, who missed his second match in a row following a spell in hospital, with the Dundee United boss continuing his recovery at home.
It was almost a repeat of Sunday’s opener as the home side flew immediately towards United’s goal. Tom Sparrow’s low ball towards the box allowed Palmer-Houlden to strongly hold off Michael Forbes before cutting the ball back to Lukas Fadinger. His stinging drive forced the first of many great saves from Jack Walton. But the keeper was lucky as Emmanuel Longelo latched onto the loose ball before drilling a right-foot shot off the post.
As the Tannadice men were pressed deep into their own half, Jamie Knight-Lebel had the freedom to carry the ball towards the visitor’s box before rolling a pass through to Palmer-Houlden, but his low drive was easily taken by Walton.
The United goal was already under constant pressure before they were reduced to ten men after 23 minutes. Agyei’s high boot caught Lowry, and the referee had no hesitation in showing him a red card.
That increased Motherwell’s possession with Lowry and Fadinger bossing the middle of the park. As the play around the visitor’s box continued, it was only a question of time before the Fir Park men would open the scoring.
The goal almost came after 17 minutes, but Tawanda Maswanhise’s powerful drive from the edge of the box was brilliantly palmed away by Walton at full stretch.
Two minutes later his goal was finally breached. Sparrow whipped yet another cross into the box, and Pamer-Houlden swept the bouncing ball in off the post for his first goal for the club.
After that it was a wave of attacks on the United goal with a string of inviting crosses going on.
A superb cross-field pass from Fadinger sent Longelo down the line, and not for the last time, his drilled ball across the visitor’s six-yard box was missed by both Pamer-Houlden and Maswanhise.
The keeper then saved his side from falling further behind when Kanga dragged the ball across the edge of the penalty area before setting up Fadinger, whose rising shot was superbly palmed away by Walton.
The first-half finished with Lowry’s cross being nodded over the bar by Palmer-Houlden, as the Motherwell fans were probably amazed that the team’s total supremacy hadn’t resulted in more goals.
Within a few minutes of the restart, Fadinger came within inches of extending Motherwell’s lead when his curling shot from 25 yards smacked off the inside of the post and back across the face of the goal with the keeper motionless.
Just before the hour mark, Johansson made his first couple of changes, swapping the height and strong running of Palmer-Houlden for the similarly built Eythor Bjorgolfsson. The Well boss also took the opportunity to give Levitt his first taste of action, replacing Fadinger in the midfield.
The former Dundee United man was then involved in a series of short passes which provided Lowry with the chance to drive his shot beyond Walker from 20 yards to open his Motherwell account.
Levitt then joined him after 66 minutes. Maswanhise slid the ball through the United defence, and from 15 yards to the right of Walker’s goal, Levitt slid the ball across the keeper and inside his right-hand post.
With points wrapped up and over 20 minutes to play, Lowry came off to a standing ovation along with Sparrow to give Stephen O’Donnell some needed pitch time and allow Willy Vogt to maintain the pressure on the overworked and tiring United.
The visitors almost grabbed a consolation goal 13 minutes from time, but after running unchallenged into the box, Lachlan Rose squeezed his shot past Paulsen but off the post before being flagged offside.
With Motherwell comfortable in their lead, United had more of the ball in the closing stages, but apart from forcing Paulsen into his one save of the game, there was little chance of spoiling the Steelmen’s evening.
Motherwell Team: Paulsen, Sparrow, Knight-Lebel, Moormann, Longelo, Hodge, Fadinger, Lowry, Kanga, Maswanhise, Palmer-Houlden.
Motherwell Subs: Connelly, O’Donnell, Girdwood-Reich, Williams, Levitt, Said, Charles-Cook, Vogt, Bjorgolfsson.
