Goals from Barry Nicholson, Gary Dempsey and Derek Young gave Dunfermline a well-deserved win over Motherwell and kept the Pars in contention with Hearts for third spot in the Bank of Scotland Premier league.

The Fifers, who won through to their first Scottish Cup final for 36 years in midweek, dominated from start to finish and were inspired by Scotland striker Stevie Crawford.

He excelled in the absence of Craig Brewster and laid on Nicholson and Dempsey's goals, showing great vision and awareness to unlock the Motherwell defence.

Motherwell made one change to the side which defeated Aberdeen last Sunday.

Veteran former Celtic midfielder Phil O'Donnell dropped out to make way for Kenny Wright.

Dunfermline were without Brewster and Scott Wilson, who both picked up knocks against Inverness Caley in Tuesday's semi-final.

Manager Jimmy Calderwood brought in Irishman Ritchie Byrne and defender Greg Shields to cover.

Both sides were bogged down in a stuffy midfield battle which dominated the opening exchanges, although young Wright's bright start was a major plus point for the visitors.

He had a couple of decent chances to open the scoring, starting with a good turn and shot in the sixth minute which Derek Stillie did well to save.

He then bolted into the penalty area to gather Derek Adams' perfectly weighted long pass, but simply ran out of space and botched his shot.

That was as good as it got for Motherwell, who were eventually overrun by a more experienced and slicker side.

The Pars went closest to taking the lead within the opening half-hour. Dempsey cut in from the left-hand side, in the 28th minute, and thrashed a shot across the body of rookie goalkeeper Barry-John Corr, who again stood in for regular first-choice Gordon Marshall.

Dempsey's effort had the young ex-Celtic reserve well beaten, but he was relieved to see it smack off the inside of the post and bounce out.

Dunfermline only had eight minutes to wait for the opener, however, as a fine move between Crawford and Nicholson bore fruit.

The Pars striker caught up with the ball on the left side of the penalty area and, with great positional awareness, slipped a reverse pass back into the centre for his team-mate to run on to.

Well's young defence were caught out by Crawford's quickness of thought and left a gaping hole for the midfielder, leaving Corr exposed and Nicholson the easy task of side-footing the ball beyond him.

They combined in similar fashion after the interval, but on this occasion Nicholson could not muster a finish worthy of Crawford's build-up play and shot wildly over the bar from 15 yards out.

Motherwell did not heed this early warning and fell further behind in the 52nd minute, once again the victims of Crawford's excellent awareness.

He held off Stephen Craigan on the left side of the penalty area, waiting for Dempsey to arrive, and when he did get up to speed, slipped the ball into his path.

The midfielder was the beneficiary of more slack defending and had ample time to pick his spot and slam a shot past Corr and in off the post.

Referee John Underhill had enjoyed a relatively trouble-free afternoon, until the 67th minute when Dempsey went in late on Paul Quinn.

The big defender took exception to his poorly timed shoulder-barge and sought revenge seconds later by going in hard on the Pars man as he gathered possession in midfield.

The official quickly moved in to defuse the situation and had a word with both players.

Motherwell won possession from the resulting free-kick and almost broke away to score, but Steven Craig could not head Burns' cross on target.

They went further behind in the 73rd minute, with another goal borne from some hesitant defending. Lee Bullen was allowed plenty of space on the left to pick out Young, who nipped in ahead of everyone to direct the ball past Corr's left hand.

Teams

Dunfermline Stillie, Shields, Skerla, Bullen, Byrne (Labonte 70), Nicholson, Mason, Darren Young, Dempsey, Crawford (Mehmet 79), Derek Young (Grondin 85).

Subs Not Used: Scott Y Thomson, Kilgannon.

Goals: Nicholson 36, Dempsey 52, Derek Young 74.

Motherwell Corr, Quinn, Corrigan, Craigan, Hammell, Lasley, Burns, Adams, Dair (Fagan 55), Craig (Clarkson 78), Wright.

Subs Not Used: Marshall, Kevin McDonald, Kinniburgh.

Att: 4,290

Ref: J Underhill (Scotland).