Dundee United manager Jackie McNamara admitted he was frustrated that his players couldn’t maintain their free-flowing football for 90 minutes.
The Tangerines seemed able to cut Motherwell open at will during an exhilarating first half at Tannadice.
The home side took the lead on 21 minutes thanks to a composed finish from the excellent Ryan Dow then Gavin Gunning made it 2-0 just before the break.
That scoreline flattered the Steelemen at that stage and Gunning added another from a deflected free-kick right after the turn-around.
A John Sutton penalty for the Lanarkshire men gave them hope, but the home team saw it out to win 3-1 despite losing some of their sparkle.
“I thought in the first half we were excellent, moved the ball about nicely and had good energy,” said McNamara.
“We had chances to put the game to bed really. I was a wee bit frustrated with the second half.”
“It wasn’t pretty and the fluency went out of the game. In saying that, I was delighted with the first.
“Now we have another hard match against Hibs on Friday night so hopefully that’s another good night for us.”
United’s goalscorers both returned to the starting line-up with a bang after been sidelined and the Tannadice gaffer admitted he has a selection problem for that trip to Easter Road.
“Ryan and Gav are going to give me a problem for next week, with the two young ones (Ryan Gauld and John Souttar) coming back,” he added.
“I knew that throughout the season we would need the squad and that’s how it has turned out.
“Ryan and Gav came in and did really. Dowser has been excellent coming on for us so he was there on merit tonight.”
Motherwell manager Stuart McCall was unhappy to see his players come out second best for most of the game.
“You can’t goals away like we did against a good side like Dundee United,” he said.
“That is only the second defeat in 10 for us and this is a difficult place to come to.
“We gifted them goals and they took full advantage of that.”