A double by Stuart Elliott gave Motherwell a 2-1 half-time lead against Dunfermline at East End Park.

The Northern Ireland winger scored in the seventh and 17th minutes as the Firs Park men looked far superior.

But the home side fought back and were given hope when Stevie Crawford converted a 34th minute penalty.

There was a depressingly small crowd inside East End Park for this meaningless Scottish Premier League match.

Only around 150 Motherwell fans bothered to make the trip to Fife.

Both teams fielded makeshift sides due to injuries and there were also several players on display who had been told earlier in the week by their respective managers that their services were no longer required.

So there were questions marks about how the players would approach the game but it was the home side who started the stronger, attacking from the kick-off and forcing a corner within a minute.

But when Stewart Petrie's cross came over, Dunfermline centre-half Andrei Skerla's header from six yards went well wide of Motherwell keeper Stephen Woods' left-hand post.

But it was the visitors who went into a shock eighth-minute lead with their first move upfield.

Elliott raced into the box and when Skerla stumbled, it allowed the Irish winger a clean sight of goal and he drove an angled shot from 10 yards past Dunfermline keeper Marco Ruitenbeek.

The home side's troubles were compounded in the 17th minute when the visitors doubled their lead with a simple goal.

From a Kevin Twaddle corner on the right Elliott rose virtually unchallenged six yards from goal to bullet a header high into the net past the helpless Ruitenbeek.

Dunfermline seemed powerless to stop the Lanarkshire men as they grew in confidence and moments later Elliott nearly grabbed his third, his cross frm the left dipping just over the bar.

The winger was causing all sorts of problems for the Dunfermline defence and his cross in the 24th minute was luckily cleared by Dunfermline defender Michel Doesburg as Twaddle waited at the back post for a simply tap-in.

At the other end Barry Nicholson tried his luck from 20 yards but his effort was well off target although Crawford tried hard to deflect the shot towards goal with his head.

But the visitors raced down the pitch and Ruitenbeek had to pull off a great save from a curling Twaddle shot from just inside the box.

Dunfermline came close to reducing the deficit on the half-hour mark when a George Fotheringham cross from the right found Crawford eight yards from goal.

The Scottish international's header beat Woods but struck the base of the post and flew to safety.

Dunfermline continued to press and in the 34th minute they were awarded a penalty after Fotheringham was fouled in the box by Motherwell midfielder Chiba.

It was Crawford who stepped up confidently to send Woods the wrong way.

The Fifers were on top now and three minutes from the break defender Chris McGroarty came close with a shot from the edge of the box which went narrowly past Woods' right-hand post.