Motherwell shot themselves in the foot with a collapse in performance in defeat at Kilmarnock.
Kyle Lafferty’s goal in the opening minute was cancelled out by Barry Maguire’s first goal in claret and amber to take the game in level at the break.
But a quickfire double from Rory McKenzie and Chris Burke before the hour mark put the hosts in the driving seat, before Mitch Pinnock added further insult to injury late on.
The afternoon started with the Motherwell team deciding to no longer take a knee before the match.
The squad spoke out beforehand to say the action had became an empty gesture, with further action required by those in power to fight properly against racism.
When the game got going, a minute hadn’t passed before the hosts took the lead.
Lafferty found room on the edge of the box and his snapshot caught Kelly off guard to find the bottom-right corner of the net.
Motherwell were shellshocked but started to get on the ball and would bring themselves level seven minutes later.
Jordan Roberts was denied at point-blank range by Doyle’s save but Maguire reacted quickest, finding the corner of the goal from the edge of the area with a precise finish.
The Steelmen were in level at the break despite not putting in their normal level of performance but would collapse 10 minutes into the second half.
A ball from the right wasn’t cleared and allowed McKenzie to be alert to nick the ball, round Kelly and slot home from close range.
Barely a minute later, they were 3-1 ahead. A cross from the left sailed unchallenged all the way to the back post, where Burke was on hand to fire into the roof of the net.
Long and Lawless were introduced to try and spark the team back to life but, save for Roberts’ volley hitting the post, Graham Alexander’s men couldn’t get a foothold back in the fixture.
Then, with seven minutes left, Pinnock got the better of Magloire down the left to find himself one-on-one with Kelly, picking his spot to give the Ayrshire club a vital victory in the fight against relegation.
