Dundee United’s hopes of Premiership survival suffered a blow as they lost to Motherwell at Fir Park.
United had taken a first half lead through Henri Anier but it was cancelled out by Marvin Johnson before the break. The second half saw Louis Moult strike from close range to give the Steelmen the win and leave the Tangerines eight points adrift at the foot of the table.
For the second game running Mixu Paatelainen was forced to make a change in goal. Eiji Kawashima remained unfit and with Luis Zwick injuring a knee in training, Michal Szromnik made his first start since December.
The young Pole looked nervy early on and handling errors saw the home team twice go close. The Tangerines looked dangerous too and John Rankin, Paul Dixon and Henri Anier went close in the opening spell.
And when Rankin fed Anier on the edge of the area in the 22nd minute, he almost burst the net to put United one up with a glorious goal, his third in two games.
United continued to look good going forward but just on the stroke of half-time were pegged back when Johnson headed the equaliser.
In the second period ‘Well were the stronger team and, 20 minutes in, they went ahead when Johnson fired the ball across goal for Moult to net from close range.
That was enough for Mark McGhee’s team to secure a second important victory over United in just under a month.
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