Motherwell and Dundee might be in administration but they provided a great advert for Scottish football at a time when the game is in a deep financial crisis.

Motherwell emerged as the eventual winners of an eight-goal thriller thanks to goals from Keith Lasley, David Clarkson, Alex Burns and a double from Jason Dair.

Dundee had taken the lead through Neil Barrett and he netted again before Nacho Novo found the back of the net but they were forced to leave empty-handed.

Motherwell manager Terry Butcher lost a total of 19 players back in April 2002 and narrowly-escaped relegation before starting to turn around the fortunes of the club and he seems to have a conveyer-belt providing good, young players these days.

Unfortunately for Motherwell, Dundee also showed they can remain a competitive force on the field after the administrators stripped them of 15 players earlier this season and they headed into this game a point ahead of Well.

This had all the makings of a game that would satisfy the most goal-hungry of supporters and right from the outset both sides had decent chances to take the lead.

The opener came after 11 minutes when on-loan Chelsea player Sebastian Kneissl squared the ball into the path of fellow loanee Barrett to slot home from the edge of the home side's six-yard box.

But Motherwell hit back just three minutes later when Clarkson cut the ball back to Burns for the shot at goal but he fluffed the shot and it was left to Lasley to fire home instead.

Well took the lead after 17 minutes when Dair met a Burns cross before firing past Julian Speroni from 12 yards out.

But Barrett was back on the scoresheet again after 28 minutes. This time he met Garry Brady's free-kick with a diving header that left goalkeeper Gordon Marshall with no chance.

Nacho Novo slammed the ball into the back of the net to make sure but Barrett's header was already over the line.

Motherwell did not have to wait too long for their third goal.

Burns threaded the ball through to Derek Adams and he found himself in a tangle with Tom Hutchinson but the Motherwell player managed to stab it into the path of Clarkson for him to fire home into an empty net after 50 minutes.

The game was back on level terms again when Martyn Corrigan failed to clear a Dave Mackay throw-in properly and the ball fell to Novo to bullet it home from a tight angle just inside the six-yard box after 58 minutes.

But this was proving to be a game far from lacking in goals and Motherwell were in front again two minutes later. Corrigan's long ball was met by Dair out on the right and he supplied the cross for Burns to score.

Motherwell strengthened their lead with 17 minutes remaining when Dair collected substitute Scott McDonald's pass just inside the area before driving past Marshall to record the home side's fifth goal of the night.

Dundee went in search of more goals to give themselves a chance of taking something from the game but it was Motherwell who almost found the back of the net again with just a few minutes to go when Clarkson tried to set up McDonald only for Speroni to pull of an impressive save.

Teams

Motherwell Marshall, Quinn, Corrigan, Craigan, Hammell, Lasley (Scott McDonald 53), Dair, Adams, O'Donnell (Bollan 66), Clarkson, Burns.

Subs Not Used: Corr, Kinniburgh, Wright.

Goals: Lasley 15, Dair 18, Clarkson 51, Burns 62, Dair 73.

Dundee Speroni, Mackay, Mair, Kneissl (Lovell 67), Hernandez Santos, Barrett (Smith 75), Hutchinson, Milne (Robb 78), Novo, Fotheringham, Brady.

Subs Not Used: Soutar, McDonald.

Booked: Hernandez Santos, Hutchinson.

Goals: Barrett 11, 28, Novo 58.

Att: 4,247

Ref: J Rowbotham (Scotland).