Kilmarnock 0-1 Motherwell: Allan Campbell strike enough for visitors

Tommy Wright saw "more than enough" to be encouraged by Kilmarnock as his Rugby Park reign began with defeat to Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership.

Killie failed to hit the net for the fifth time in six games and, despite controlling much of the match, could not make their dominance count.

Their wastefulness was punished when Allan Campbell drove the visitors in front in the second half.

"The players believe they bossed the game, and they did," said Wright.

"Where we are in the league you could say we're in a relegation dogfight, but there's 10 games to go, 30 points to play for, and I think we should be encouraged by how we played tonight. I'm certainly encouraged."

Following a sixth successive loss, Kilmarnock are just four points off the bottom of the league.

Hamilton, in last place, have two games in hand on the Ayrshire men, who now face away games to Rangers and Aberdeen.

Motherwell, though, helped ease their own relegation worries with their third win in four outings.

• Reaction & as it happened

Both sides have not had their struggles to seek this season, but they both went into this with a lift. Motherwell had been unlucky not to take a point at Celtic Park on Saturday, while Kilmarnock are hopeful of better days now that former St Johnstone boss Wright is in the door.

During an energetic start Killie's Rory McKenzie and Motherwell's Devante Cole both had half chances but the goalkeepers were given easy saves.

Kilmarnock were the more adventurous and Chris Burke almost got onto the end of an angled long pass, Brandon Haunstrup sent a teasing ball to the back post, while Rory McKenzie drove a low ball across the face of goal. With only two goals on their losing streak five, putting the ball in the net was continuing to be a problem.

And they didn't look too convincing at the back either. Cole managed to get in behind but mishit his shot with just goalkeeper Colin Doyle to beat.

Killie kept up the pressure. McKenzie had a shot charged down and Alan Power's low ball was begging for a touch, but again they were caught out at a set-piece and Doyle had to push away a close-range Cole header.

Nicke Kabamba should perhaps have scored when the ball fell to him at the back post, but the Kilmarnock striker hit the side-netting.

And they were made to pay for that miss when Campbell latched onto a Tony Watt pass and rifled a shot into the roof of the net, his second goal in two games.

Motherwell sensed a second and Watt had a shot from outside of the boot blocked.

Kilmarnock rallied but Burke's shot from distance failed to trouble Kelly, while Kabamba had a late header saved and it is clear there is work to do for Wright.

Man of the match - Tony Watt

Motherwell were on the back foot a lot, but when they did get forward Tony Watt was at the centre of the action, and his through ball for Campbell was pivotal to unlocking the Killie defence

What did we learn?

Wright would have been pleased with much of what he saw from his side as they produced much better fare than of late. However, Liam Kelly was rarely tested in the visiting goal.

Motherwell created less than they did at Celtic Park at the weekend, but they hit Killie where it hurts and, after a tough start, boss Alexander has now taken nine points from 12 to put daylight between them and the bottom of the table.

What did they say?

Kilmarnock manager Tommy Wright: "We controlled large parts of the game, got into areas of the pitch where we should have made more of it. Maybe the quality and movement into the box could have been better. Just that final bit of the jigsaw wasn't there tonight. We've been caught with a sucker punch from a quick throw in."

Motherwell manager Graham Alexander: "It was a tight game all the way through. Both teams competed at a great level. We said at half-time it could be a grind but if we can find that bit of quality we can win the game and so it proved.

"It's the first clean sheet for quite a while too, and added onto it the three points - it's a good night for us."

What's next?

Kilmarnock travel to Rangers on Saturday (15:00), while Motherwell have a Lanarkshire derby at home to Hamilton Academical at the same time.