Motherwell got back to winning ways as they beat William Hill Scottish Premiership basement side Livingston 3-0 at Fir Park.
Goals from Elliot Watt, Apostles Stamatelopoulos and Emmanuel Longelo kept the Lanarkshire side in third place – on a run of eight games unbeate – and back in goalscoring form, having drawn 0-0 against Falkirk and Hearts in their last two games.
Livingston had not won here in six attempts, spanning 23 years, and while they showed flashes of menace, they never looked like breaking that duck.
David Martindale’s side are now on a run of 13 games without a win as they try to keep a grip on their top-flight place.
Motherwell were the better side in the first half and should have been more than 1-0 ahead at the interval, but Livingston showed good counter-attacking flair and kept them at bay.
That continued in the second half, with Stamatelopoulos bagging his seventh goal of the season from the spot and Longelo adding a late third, though Callum Ward had to make a top-class save to deny Mohamadou Susoho at the other end.
Motherwell boss Jens Berthel Askou made seven changes from the side that drew 0-0 at Falkirk on Wednesday.
Watt, Stephen O’Donnell, Liam Gordon, Johnny Koutroumbis, Elijah Just, Regan Charles-Cook and Stamatelopoulos came in for Tom Sparrow, Stephen Welsh, Longelo, Oscar Pressman, Callum Slattery, Ibrahim Said and Callum Hendry, all of whom were on the bench.
His Livingston counterpart Martindale kept faith with the side that lost 1-0 against Aberdeen on Sunday.
Motherwell’s Tawanda Maswanhise had a go with a curling shot in four minutes, but it was comfortably saved by Jerome Prior.
Tete Yengi went close for Livingston in 17 minutes after a good move down the right, but sent his low shot trundling past the left post.
Well made him pay for that miss a minute later when Watt fired high into the left corner from about 20 yards, despite Prior getting a hand to the ball, after the midfielder was picked out by Charles-Cook.
Lewis Smith had a go from just outside the box on the right in the 22th minute, but it flew past the far post corner for the visitors.
The hosts went close again after 27 minutes when Lukas Fadinger raced through on goal and slipped a pass to Stamatelopoulos, but his angled shot was saved well.
Charles-Cook darted down the right wing in the 33th minute and found Liam Gordon just outside the box, but the defender sliced his shot wide of the left post.
Watt’s free-kick was headed over by Stamatelopoulos after 42 minutes as Motherwell tried to stretch their interval lead.
Livingston went close in the 51st minute when Susoho’s 20-yard piledriver was brilliantly saved past the left post by Ward.
Lewis Smith pulled down Johnny Koutroumbis to hand the home side a penalty in the 59th minute. Stamatelopoulos stepped up and confidently converted.
Substitute Callum Hendry should have added a third in the 68th minute, but headed over, and Charles-Cook saw a curling effort saved with eight minutes left.
However, Motherwell bagged their third after 88 minutes when Charles-Cook was sent through on the right and he slipped the ball to Longelo to tap in.
Joshua Brenet was sent through on goal deep in stoppage time, but was denied by Ward.
