Kilmarnock rode their luck and had a helping hand from Motherwell to take another three points and regain third place in the Premier League.

Motherwell midfielder Ged Brannan opened the scoring after just four minutes but the Rugby Park side hit back through Paul Wright six minutes before the break.

French striker Christophe Cocard saw his drive deflect off Martyn Corrigan and beyond Stephen Woods three minutes from time.

The visitors had had to withstand immense pressure from the home side and after a minor slip-up Killie goalkeeper Gordon Marshall emerged as star man.

Marshall was beaten after only three minutes when a powerful strike from Brannan skidded in front of him and as it bounced over the keeper he could only push it into the corner of the net.

Marshall made amends though in the remainder of the match as he denied Motherwell a lead which Kilmarnock would not have recovered from.

Opposite number Woods blundered badly to give Killie a gift of an equaliser after 39 minutes.

Woods left his penalty area to quickly take a free-kick but the ball struck Scott Leitch before rolling kindly into the path of Paul Wright who could not believe his luck as from the edge of the box he struck the ball into an unguarded goal and make it 1-1.

Then having withstood a lot of home pressure in the second half Kilmarnock struck with their killer winner three minutes from time to take the points.

It was harsh though on Motherwell and their fans who watched their side dominate for large spells without getting their goals.

Marshall was the main reason and early in the first half he produced a fine double save to deny John Spencer with a snapshot and then Leitch who was following up the rebound.

In the second half, Marshall was fortunate when a Townsley shot beat him but rebounded from the post before the goalkeeper once again came to the rescue.

This time his double save firstly denied Lee McCulloch from eight yards before watching the ball rebounding from his own defender Frederic Dindeleux before Marshall scrambled to gather the ball on the goal line to keep the sides level.

Both sides pushed for the three points in the closing stages and Alan Mahood thought he had snatched the winner when his downward header looked to be sneaking inside the post before Woods scrambled it clear.

Then with just three minutes remaining Kilmarnock sneaked the winner when Cocard raced towards goal before unleashing a shot which deflected off Corrigan and wrong-footed Woods as the ball his the net for the winner.