Derek Townsley and Derek Adams sealed the points for Motherwell as Hearts head coach Craig Levein suffered his second defeat in charge of the club.

But the Fir Park side owed a huge debt of gratitude to goalkeeper Andy Goram for some inspirational stops.

In a relatively quiet first-half Motherwell dominated the proceedings and while they created a host of chances, they could not find their way past Antti Niemi.

After 36 minutes the home pressure looked to have paid-off when Kevin Twaddle's low-ground shot was parried by the Finnish international and Lee McCulloch could only rattle the ball against the crossbar.

Motherwell continued to press towards the Hearts goal but it took them until the 56th minute to make the breakthrough.

John Spencer, back from injury and a constant threat to the Hearts defence found Twaddle who could only win a corner.

From his corner kick, Townsley powered a header under the crossbar despite Robbie Neilson's attempts to keep it out.

This was no more than the home side had deserved but the introduction of two Hearts substitutes brought the Edinburgh side roaring back into the game.

Kenny Milne was first into action on the hour mark and his first touch - a downward header - forced Goram to make a breathtaking save getting down low to palm the ball away.

The Hearts youngster was then denied again when a powerful shot was fisted away by the keeper.

Then the second sub Gary McSwegan got in on the act and from his bullet header Goram produced another magnificent one-handed save.

Hearts looked certain to equalise and McSwegan thought he had with a low ground shot which beat the keeper but rebounded from the post.

In an absorbing second-half though the action was not all one way and at the other end Niemi was called upon for equally stunning stops.

His first came from a close-range volley from Martyn Corrigan and then, eight minutes from time, the Hearts keeper turned a thundering drive from Stuart Elliott onto the post to keep Hearts alive.

However, three minutes from time Motherwell sub Adams raced onto a through ball from Townsley to calmly beat the keeper and give Motherwell all three points.

Teams

Motherwell: Goram, Corrigan, Strong, McMillan, Hammell, Townsley, Brannan, Leitch, Twaddle (Adams 72), McCulloch, Spencer (Elliott 77).

Subs Not Used: Woods, Lasley, Oueifio.

Goals: Townsley 56, Adams 87.

Hearts: Niemi, Neilson (Locke 79), Pressley, Severin, Murray, Tomaschek, Cameron, Fulton, Juanjo (Milne 60), Durie (McSwegan 66), Kirk.

Subs Not Used: McKenzie, Petric.

Att: 5,440

Ref: Mike McCurry (Scotland).