Motherwell can take "big confidence" boost after a late winner at St Mirren ended a run of three Scottish Premiership defeats, says manager Stuart Kettlewell.

Tony Watt struck in the 94th minute to earn victory, netted his first of the season when he turned in Lennon Miller's free-kick.

"It was a fantastic finish from Tony," Kettlewell said. "He's waited patiently.

"That last second goal was a great moment for us. We've been waiting two weeks for it. It wasn't done pretty but it was done effectively."

Motherwell now move to within two points of fourth-placed Dundee United and two ahead of Dundee in sixth.

St Mirren missed the chance to break into the top six and drop a point behind Tony Docherty's men.

They will also have to do without the influentual Alex Gogic after he picked up a second yellow card just before the winning goal.

Although it was St Mirren who created more opportunities, Motherwell had their fair share of chances, including an Andy Halliday free-kick that just grazed past Ellery Balcombe's goal.

Steve Seddon also had great chance in the second half. Halliday's lofted pass found Seddon inside the box who took the shot first time and forced Balcombe into a stretching save to tip the ball onto the crossbar and behind.

The magic moment came deep into stoppage time when Gogic was shown a red card for his challenge on Moses Ebiye and gave Motherwell a free-kick right on the edge of the St Mirren box.

Miller sent in a perfectly-weighted cross and Watt made the darting run to get his head on it and thump the ball beyond Balcombe.

Watt's late goal proves a welcome relief for Kettlewell whose side looked, for 93 minutes, like they were heading for a fourth game without a win.

Gogic's rash decision gifted the visitors a free-kick, Miller - who'd been kept pretty quiet all game - delivered a perfect cross, and Watt made a cracking run to smack the header home for his first of the season.

And that goal could be massive in the context of Motherwell's season.

They edge closer to United while putting a bit of breathing space between them and Dundee in sixth.

It could also be the first step for Watt in proving the doubters wrong. And if his celebrations are anything to go by, he's very happy to be back among the goals.

St Mirren looked like the better side for the most part in Paisley but just lacked any sort of edge in front of goal.

Conor McMenamin looked a threat and second-half substitutes Mikael Mandron and Roland Idowu also appeared to make a difference when they came on.

Breaking into the top six wasn't to be for Stephen Robinson's side but they're just one point behind Dundee in sixth, and three clear of Ross County in eighth.

They will now prepare for a trip to St Johnstone next weekend to try and crack the top half again.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "I thought it was a poor game, there wasn't a lot of quality on show because the weather made it difficult to play.

"We had the better chances but we didn't take them. The disappointing thing is we didn't have enough people leading in the last minute to make sure we didn't concede a goal."

Motherwell manager Stuart Kettlewell: "Over the moon that we break the run we were on. We showed today we weren't content with that run.

"I feel we were deserving of it, especially in the second half. I felt the momentum was with ourselves, I thought we carved out the two best opportunities."