Motherwell's faint hopes of a European spot were kept alive thanks to a double from substitute Kevin Twaddle which gave the home side a thoroughly deserved victory over disappointing Hibs.

Motherwell completely dominated the match but, as the game progressed, looked unlikely to make a breakthrough until Twaddle came onto replace Derek Townsley after 65 minutes.

Five minutes later the lanky winger took a pass from Don Goodman and from a tight angle fired a low hard shot across Hibs keeper Nick Colgan and into the far corner to make it 1-0.

Before the home fans had finished celebrating Twaddle struck again three minutes later.

The build up was similar with Harvey providing the pass but this time, with the angle looking too acute, Twaddle somehow managed to hammer his drive high beyond Colgan and into the top corner to ensure that all three points would stay with the home side.

Motherwell's superiority could be measured by the fact that the Edinburgh side failed to win a corner.

Indeed it took until the 80th minute for Hibs to force a save from the Motherwell keeper, albeit a tremendous one with Stevie Woods rising high to palm over a powerful header from Mixu Paatelainen.

That apart Woods had an extremely quiet afternoon as his outfield colleagues completely dominated proceedings.

As early as the fifth minute when Don Goodman was sent through by Derek Adams only to watch the keeper dive at his feet to save the pattern of play was set.

The closest Well came in that early period of domination came after 18 minutes when Harvey collected the ball at the edge of the box. Unfortunately for the midfield man his left-foot drive beat the keeper only to rebound from the face of the crossbar.

It was all Motherwell in the first half and, after shots from John Spencer and Goodman came close to giving them the lead, the home side almost reaped their reward in injury time.

A neat back heeler from Spencer set up his fellow striker Goodman who looked certain to score until Colgan racing from his line blocked his strike.

As the ball rebounded to Harvey the grounded keeper could only watch as his net-bound shot was headed away by John Hughes.

The pressure continued in the second-half but, until the introduction of Twaddle, Hibs looked like holding on as their defence stood firm.

But it would have been a travesty if Motherwell, who have now secured fourth spot in the League were denied the full points which gives them an outside chance of catching Hearts.

Teams:

Motherwell: Woods, Corrigan, Kemble, Strong, McMillan, Harvey, Brannan, Adams (Ramsey 88), Townsley (Twaddle 65), Goodman, Spencer (Nicholas 84).

Subs Not Used: Hammell, Brown.Booked: Brannan.

Goals: Twaddle 70, 73.

Hibernian: Colgan, Hughes, McIntosh, Smith (Lovering 83), Lovell (Renwick 46), Murray, McGinlay, Hartley, Lehmann, K. Miller (Jean 74), Paatelainen.

Subs Not Used: Phillips, Bottiglieri.

Att: 5,426

Referee: George Clyde.