Motherwell beat Hearts 2-1 in Fir Park thriller

Ryan Bowman celebrates scoring his first goal at Fir Park for Motherwell with team-mates Andy Rose and Chris Cadden (Pic by Alan Watson)

A lively and combative opening period saw Hearts' Cole Stockton shoot wide before play raged to the other end and Ryan Bowman won the ball on the right before crossing. Some home fans in the East Stand then roared for a penalty as Elliott Frear blasted the ball at Michael Smith's outstretched arm. But an award would have been harsh and the officials were right not to award it.Motherwell winger Chris Cadden - subject of a recent Â£100,000 Jambos bid which was rejected by the Steelmen - then produced a surge which was abruptly ended by Rafal Grzelak who was booked.Bowman then linked with Moult before having a left foot shot saved by Jack Hamilton.Motherwell were playing some good stuff but went behind slightly against the run of play when Hearts' Kyle Lafferty advanced and scored with a low shot from distance.The fine strike by the Northern Irishman was a major blow to Motherwell, but the Steelmen continued to fight hard and levelled with a great goal on 38 minutes.Richard Tait crossed to the back post and Moult knocked the ball down for Bowman to slot home.And 'Well were soon 2-1 up thanks to an even better goal. Tait provided the assist when he played in Moult, who brilliantly curled the ball over Hamilton and into the far corner.There was then a sensational period of action, starting with Carson brilliantly saving a piledriver from from Walker.A major moment of controversy then saw Motherwell claim a goal when the ball appeared to cross the line after Moult's header from a Frear cross. But the officials deemed that a Hearts defender had blocked the ball on the line.Barely a further 10 seconds had passed in this action packed encounter when Hearts' Don Cowie was booked for a crude foul on Moult.Bowman soon headed home for Motherwell after a diagonal free-kick had been nodded across to him by Ben Heneghan. But the 'goal' was disallowed for offside.Hearts were still looking dangerous on the counter, with Rangers target Walker only narrowly missing the target with a couple of fine efforts from distance.But Motherwell saw out the remaining minutes - helped by an outstanding defensive shift by Cedric Kipre - to seal a second consecutive home league win.Motherwell: Carson, Tait, Heneghan, Cadden, McHugh, Moult (Fisher 78), Frear (Campbell 67), Bowman, Rose, Dunne, Kipre.Crowd: 6568Referee: John Beaton