Motherwell eased through to the third round of the CIS Cup with a comfortable 2-0 win over East Fife at Bayview.

The Fir Park men were never in trouble and goals from Dirk Lehmann and James McFadden were enough for the visitors who dominated for long spells and missed several chances to make the score-line more emphatic.

Motherwell were without injured duo Stephen Pearson and Daniel Sengewald and Shaun Fagan and William Kinniburgh who were away with Scotland Under-19s, so former East Fife player Steve Ferguson, on loan from Spurs, made his full debut for the visitors.

And Ferguson made an immediate impact, blazing a dangerous drive over the East Fife bar from outside the box with only a minute played.

At the other end, Ross Graham drove a shot from 25 yards high over Well keeper Stephen Woods' crossbar.

As the first half wore on the visitors seemed comfortable and Steven Hammell's fine cross from wide on the left in the 10th minute found no takers.

East Fife were showing little threat in their occasional trip up the pitch and it only seemed a matter of time until the Lanarkshire men took the lead.

However, the home side were unlucky in the 25th minute when Fifers defender Michael Hall's header from close range was saved by Woods although when the visitors broke immediately to the to the other end, Ferguson somehow contrived to miss from close range, blasting his shot off Craig Farnan.

The Methil men gradually began to show some more confidence and forced several corners, keeping Woods on his toes.

But it was the visitors who took the lead in the 28th minute when Ferguson squared to Dirk Lehman who, with keeper Jim Butter out of his goal, had the easiest of tasks to knock the ball into the empty net.

After half-time Motherwell soon had the Fifers pushed back into their own half looking for the second goal which would surely clinch the tie.

In the 52nd minute McFadden sent a weak header straight to Butter after a good cross from Ferguson and moments later at the other end Hammell blocked a Craig McMillan effort at the expense of a corner.

The visitors continued to create and miss half chances. In the 55th minute Keith Lasley blasted over the bar from the edge of the box moments before Hammell brought out a good save from the keeper with a low drive.

But despite their dominance the Fir Park men only had the one goal to show for their efforts and as the second half progressed a little bit of tension began to creep into their play.