Watch best of action as Dundee Utd host Motherwell

Thomas Duncan
BBC Sport Scotland

Motherwell prepared for their League Cup semi-final meeting with Rangers with a hard-fought victory against Dundee United at Tannadice to leapfrog their opponents into fourth place in the Scottish Premiership.

The visitors were on the back foot early on but took the lead against the run of play with a well-worked free kick.

Lennon Miller picked out Dan Casey at the back post, and the centre-back steered a header across goal, where Tawanda Maswanhise was waiting to score.

United persevered and hit back 13 minutes later when Kristijan Trapanovski crossed for Sam Dalby to head in an equaliser.

The hosts should have taken the lead before the break, too, but Trapanovski and Will Ferry had goalbound efforts blocked by the Motherwell defence.

Jim Goodwin's side started the second half better as well, but they were undone by a mistake at the back by Emmanuel Adegboyega.

The centre-back was caught in possession by Maswanhise, who raced down the field and dinked goalkeeper Jack Walton to put Motherwell back in front.

United frantically tried to find another equaliser, but Kevin Holt's close-range effort past a post was as close as they came.

United lack killer instinct

It's been a good start to the season for Goodwin and the team at Tannadice on their top-flight return.

They came close to a draw at high-flying Aberdeen at the weekend and Goodwin wanted the same discipline but with more impetus on the ball at home.

He got that as his team were the more composed in a scrappy game, creating the better chances without managing to properly cut Motherwell open regularly.

Missing four starters through injury in Craig Sibbald, Ross Docherty, Ross Graham, and Louis Moult, United were the better side but could not find the lethal touch they needed.

After equalising, Trapanovski and Ferry had golden chances to put them in front but found Motherwell bodies rather than the net.

Whether they have the necessary quality up front remains the biggest question mark, with Dalby carrying too much of the burden himself in the absence of Moult.

Maswanhise makes semi-final case

Maswanhise was one of three changes to the Motherwell team, and he put his hand up to start against Rangers at Hampden.

His pace and ability to drive with the ball is such a valuable skill in this league, and even aside from his goals he was Motherwell's biggest threat.

Twice he drew bookings by surging forward and forcing United defenders to haul him down in fear of the damage he could do on the break.

His first strike was a calm first-time effort, and the second goal epitomised his threat.

The Zimbabwean was alert enough to close down Emmanuel Adegoboyega, then quick enough to sprint clear. The composure to dink Walton was the most impressive.

Rangers' struggling backline lacks pace, and Maswanhise must come into Stuart Kettlewell's thoughts for the biggest game of Motherwell's season.

What they said

Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin: "It's a difficult one to take undoubtedly. It's not a game we deserved to lose. A draw might have been a fair result but the last half hour we played the majority of the game in Motherwell's territory.

"We created some good half chances and get done with the sucker punch of the second goal."

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell: "In the first half they caused us real problems in the wide areas. But I felt the solutions were on the pitch and we made them change in the second half when we dealt with that threat.

"We grew in the second half to be honest and I thought we showed a wee bit more composure. We know that we've got that bit of quality and it was Tawanda that came up with the goods for us."

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