Louis Moult fired a Motherwell to within a whisker of safety and dropped Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton into deep trouble in the relegation play-off spot.
The striker grabbed the winner in a fierce contest that saw ref Kevin Clancy book TEN players and when it was all over, the 68th-minute effort from Moult was enough to separate the sides in front of the 4173 crowd – more than half of them having travelled from Motherwell.
To say it tense and tight in the first half is the understatement of the season.
Flowing football was non-existent but Accies did carve out a chance for Ali Crawford in the 20th minute only for the normally composed midfielder to sky his effort miles over the bar.
At the other end, Craig Clay failed to hit the target with a couple of shots, but other than that the man to catch the eye most often was referee Clancy, who booked six players in the first period – four of them from Motherwell – and struggled to keep a lid on it.
It was slightly better after the break, but the bar had been set pretty low.
There was a moment of genuine quality in the 56th minute, though, when Motherwell No.1 Russell Griffiths pulled off a superb save to deny Alex D’Acol, who’d blasted a shot from 12 yards that looked certain to find the top corner before the keeper’s right hand touched the ball over.
And Moult rubber-stamped the importance of that save by guiding a header into the top left-hand corner of Remi Matthew’s net in the 67th minute after being given too much room to get on the end of Elliot Frear’s free-kick.
3 things we learned
1, Motherwell just about deserved the win because they have a natural predator in Moult. Hamilton don’t and that’s why they’re in trouble.
2. The lack of quality made for a really poor spectacle but this was all about getting the win and decent football was always going to take second place to getting the three points. Stephen Robinson won’t be caring about that.
3. Accies are in a real dogfight now and look like they’ll be team battling it out with a Championship outfit for the right to be playing in the top flight next season.