Motherwell 2-0 Hamilton Accies

The Motherwell players celebrate their victory over Hamilton

Motherwell secured a comfortable win over their Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton Accies at Fir Park.

Chris Porter opened the scoring in the 37th minute when Bob Malcolm delivered a free-kick from 25 yards and the former Oldham man glanced it home.

Porter tapped in a controversial second on 66 minutes diverting David Clarkson's angled shot from a suspiciously offside position.

Hamilton pushed for a consolation but failed to make an impact on the match.

Motherwell, who made a stuttering start to the campaign, have now moved up to third place in the SPL, while the Accies remain at the bottom of the pile.

With 10 minutes played, Accies created the first chance of the match when Richard Offiong fired in from 12 yards out after collecting Marc Corcoran's cross, but Motherwell keeper Graeme Smith got down to save comfortably.

Porter replied for Motherwell two minutes later with an 18-yard drive that Accies' keeper Tomas Cerny pushed past the post.

As the half-hour mark approached, Malcolm struck a free-kick from 30 yards out, but it lacked power and the wall held well.

The former Rangers man made amends with a another dead-ball that curved around the Hamilton wall and Porter headed it into the net past Cerny.

Corcoran missed and opportunity to level the scores with five minutes left of the first-half when he drove forward into the Motherwell penalty area, and, with only Smith to beat, put his shot wide of the mark.

The game continued at pace following the re-start and Motherwell's John Sutton watched a snapshot strike sail past Cerny's right-hand post from 18 yards out in the 50th minute.

Four minutes later, Porter was denied a second when he fired a textbook header off the post and straight into the arms of Cerny.

MY SPORT: DEBATE Were you pleased with Motherwell's result today?

With an hour played, Clarkson missed an opportunity to extend the lead for Motherwell when he broke free inside the Hamilton box, but contrived to send his shot wide of the mark.

Porter made up for the miss six minutes later when Clarkson fired a diagonal shot across the face of goal past Cerny to put Motherwell two up, although Cerny earned himself a yellow card for remonstrating with the referee about the goal being offside.

Stephen Ettien fired in a shot from the edge of the Motherwell penalty area in the 76th minute, but it inched past the right-hand post.

Hamilton never managed to gain a foothold on the match and Mark McGhee's side held on comfortably for their third home win of the season.

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Motherwell manager Mark McGhee:
"You're never sure until the final whistle goes, but I think I would have liked more goals. We created a lot of chances and our play was aggressive and attacking.

"We put them under a lot of pressure and didn't give them a lot of time on the ball or time to create.

"It was a pleasing performance and a great result for us."

Hamilton manager Billy Reid:
"I would be astonished if the second goal wasn't offside. I think you saw the reaction of our goalkeeper and our players, they went straight to the linesman and the referee.

"I think the fourth official seen it as well, but they've not given it.

"I think there were a few tasty tackles going in, but that's a derby game and I have no problem with that at all."

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Motherwell: Graeme Smith, Quinn (McGarry 85), Malcolm, Reynolds, Hammell, Clarkson, Lasley, Hughes, Fitzpatrick, Porter, Sutton (Murphy 71). Subs Not Used: Nielsen, Darren Smith, O'Brien, Connolly, Page.

Booked: Malcolm, Lasley, Hammell.

Goals: Porter 37, 66.

Hamilton: Cerny, McClenahan, Elebert, Canning, Easton, Mensing, McArthur, Neil (McCarthy 65), Corcoran, Lyle (Ettien 65), Offiong (Thomas 71). Subs Not Used: Murdoch, Gibson, Akins, Graham.

Booked: McArthur, Cerny.

Att: 6,205

Ref: M Tumilty

BBC Sport Player Rater man of the match: Motherwell's Chris Porter 10.00 (on 90 minutes).

Please note that you can still give the players marks out of 10 on BBC Sport's Player Rater after the match has finished.

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