It was a disappointing day on the road for Kilmarnock as they slipped to another defeat.
Blair Spittal grabbed first half goal and Kevin Van Veen added a second in stoppage-time as Killie slipped closer to bottom of the Scottish Premiership.
Ross County picked up a crucial win at home to Livingston pulling them within one point of the Ayrshire side.
St Johnstone also won to go five ahead of the Rugby Park side.
Derek McInnes made two changes from his side that won away to St Mirren as Lewis Mayo and Kyle Vassell dropped out for Joe Wright and Scott Robinson.
The Killie boss opted to start with the same three at the back system which bagged three points in Paisley.
It took the hosts just four minutes to take the lead as Spittal fired home from inside the area.
Scott Robinson had a decent chance after eight minutes when he was slipped through on goal, but his effort flew past the near post.
Van Veen had the ball in the net in the 16th minute but after a lengthy VAR check for both offside and a potential red card, the goal was ruled out.
Dan Armstrong left Liam Kelly flat-footed with a free-kick as he fired off the post, but luckily for the shotstopper it didn’t come to any danger.
Spittal had an incredible chance to double his lead in the 49th minute as he got close to goal, but Sam Walker got a foot to his low shot to keep his side in the game.
Van Veen cut inside in the 64th minute as he looked to curl a shot home, but Walker got down well to tip the effort away from goal.
Killie started ramping up the pressure as Motherwell allowed them back into the game by sitting back.
It was 'Well who had the best chances in the closing minutes though as Paul McGinn had effectively an open goal, but he somehow struck the post and Walker gratefully clutched it on the goal line.
Then Van Veen finished the game off the dying minutes as he cut inside and calmly slotted into the bottom corner.
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