Motherwell kept up their fantastic home form with a thumping 4-0 victory over Kilmarnock at Fir Park.

The Steelmen have now gone nine games without conceding a home goal.

Elijah Just opened the scoring just ahead of the half-hour mark before a disastrous conclusion to the first half proved to be decisive for Killie.

They were reduced to 10 men following a second yellow card for Tom Lowery, then a minute later Tawanda Maswanhise slammed home his 16th goal of the season to double Well’s advantage.

Ibrahim Said added a third in the 56th minute before Lukas Fadinger capped off an excellent afternoon for the hosts when he found the net with eight minutes left.

Motherwell have moved within four points of second in the Scottish Premiership while Killie remain in trouble at the foot of the table having extended their winless run to 17 matches.

Killie went close inside the opening minute after the home defence struggled to clear Dominic Thompson’s long throw, with the ball eventually breaking to Tyreece John-Jules, whose effort flashed wide.

Liam Polworth thought he had given the visitors the lead in the 13th minute when he latched on to John-Jules’ through ball, rounded Calum Ward and slotted home.

However, a lengthy VAR check followed, with the former Motherwell man adjudged to have strayed inches offside.

It took Motherwell until the 27th minute to register their first chance of note. Emmanuel Longelo’s stinging strike forced a save from Kelle Roos, with Maswanhise unable to control the rebound.

The Steelmen took the lead two minutes later. A slick one-two between Just and Callum Slattery ended with the New Zealand international drilling the ball home.

With eight minutes remaining in the first half, Kilmarnock almost levelled when John-Jules met Thompson’s free-kick with a powerful header that smashed against the crossbar.

Maswanhise went close twice as Motherwell looked to extend their advantage and the hosts would capitalise on a disastrous 60 seconds for the visitors.

In the 45th minute, Lowery was shown a second yellow card for a mistimed lunge on Maswanhise.

Maswanhise then doubled Motherwell’s lead a minute into added-on time after a set-piece saw Tom Sparrow tee up the Zimbabwean to crash home on the volley.

Roos produced an excellent save to deny Fadinger shortly after the restart before Just squandered a gilt-edged chance at the near post.

The third goal arrived in the 56th minute. Longelo’s low cross travelled through a crowded penalty area and Said got a fortunate break of the ball to smash home from close range.

Ward was called into action when he superbly kept out Brad Lyons’ rasping strike.

There was further misery for the visitors in the 82nd minute when Fadinger blasted low into the net after good work by new signing Eythor Bjorgolfsson.

What’s coming up in the Scottish Premiership?