Finally, Hearts are up and running. Last week collection of individuals fought for each other as a team tonight, leaving Fir Park with all three points. Both sides gave it their all, and certainly there are still a few rough edges to deal with. However, it was much much better this evening.

Larry Kingston scored the first and made the second, although his right sided duties were aided magnificently by Robbie Neilson, haring past the Ghanian down the flank at every opportunity. Motherwell had their chances, but found Steve Banks more than a match for them. The Jambos did not exactly dominate proceedings but they did enough.

Opening passages of play were uneventful, both teams sizing each other up as the home side gave a debut to Stephen Hughes, so close to signing for Hearts in the last transfer window. Stephen Craigan was a dominating aerial presence for Motherwell and Christian Nade showed us what he could do when he gexpertly gave Reynolds the slip, only to be pulled back for what we think was a jersey tug.

Hearts were denied what looked to us like an absolute stonewall penalty when Elliot's shot was deflected up in the air...Ksanavicius was clearly getting to the ball before the onrushing goalkeeper Graeme Smith when he was unceremoniously bundled over by Craigan (we think). Mr Richmond was nearby but maybe his view was blocked?

We followed it up with some nice one-twoing between Neilson and Kingston, with Robbie's cross (from the byline!!) allowing Elliot to head at goal. Smith palmed it away and his defence did the rest. Promising.

Motherwell, though, are a vastly improved outfit from the freefalling shambles that surmised Maurice Malpas's last few months in charge and they were able to force some corners through consistent pressure. Stephen Hughes, no doubt keen to score against the club he could have signed for, rattled in a strike from about 35 yards, which didn't trouble Banksie.

They had their best chance so far after 21 minutes, when McGarry found himself clean through the middle of the defence. He was about to pull the trigger from no more than 12 yards out when Ibby Tall arrived, almost from nowhere, with a magnificent blocking tackle, preventing Banks from having to deal with it himself.

We're glad that happened, because it was followed up by a goal - for Hearts. A long ball down the park was flicked on by Stewart (again, we think, our view was a bit restricted on that one by a big yellow pillar) and Larry Kingston ran with the ball for about 15 yards. He wasn't challenged, at least sufficiently, evaded the one outstretched boot with ease and slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner from the edge of the box. So far into the corner in fact, that it pinged straight out of the net and initially we thought it had rebounded off the advertising boards. Thankfully, we were wrong.

Like you, we love Larry, but like you as well, we can't make head nor tail of his new celebration - first exhibited at Stirling last Tuesday. Is it a duck waddle? A crab's pincer movement? Not to worry, if it's what he wants to do after he scores, we hope we see many more of them.

Motherwell missed two golden chances to level when first Lasley - blocked by Tall - and Clarkson - inadvertently stabbing someone else's effort wide - passed up opportunities. When they got the ball, they looked dangerous.

It could have been two for Hearts on 42 minutes. Elliot seized on Quinn's hesitation and drove down the left flank, passed it to Stewart, who in turn flicked it to the incoming Ksanavicius. Audrey beat the defence and smacked a swerving volley past Smith, but into the side netting.

At the other end, David Clarkson looked to be yards offside when he collected a cross field ball. He took it down, cut inside and blasted wide. Berra, like us, felt there had been an offside and wasted no time communicating this to the referee.

Aside from a suicidal looking backpass from Goncalves (great reflexes from Christophe to let it pass through his legs) that was it for the first half, in what had unquestionably been Hearts' best performance of the season so far. Hopefully they could keep it up.

At the restart - and yes, we know we're biased - Calum Elliot was not given what looked another clear penalty kick when he was tripped in the box, rushing to meet a bobbling ball. He was furious, as were the Hearts support, and the home fans too, but they felt it was because Calum had made a meal of the challenge.

Motherwell stepped up the pace and forced first Larry Kingston into a heroic clearance from a goalmouth scramble and then Banks into a good, solid stop from McGarry's low drive. That last chance had come from a well-orchestrated Motherwell breakaway, which was something we had to watch out for.

Goncalves had Berra to thank for getting him out of jail when he calamitously misjudged Smith's long punt out. His fresh-air kick gave Clarkson a free run down the flank but captain's heroics forced the ball out for a corner. It could have been much, much worse.

Nade had put in a solid, promising shift, but was clearly not match fit. He was replaced by Velicka on 57 minutes, a moment after Motherwell's English striker Chris Porter had entered the fray. They weren't out of it by any stretch of the imagination, still seeking to carve Hearts up on the break.

An hour came and passed. At this point last weekend, the away support was leaving in droves at Celtic Park, however tonight thus far, Hearts had competed well. Motherwell were being a tad tenacious, especially when Paterson was booked for a shocking lunge on Neilson, a lunge from which we could hear Robbie's cry of pain in the press box. He eventually entered the field of play again without seeking Mr Richmond's permission first and earned a rather harsh booking, which sent Stevie Frail into a somewhat justified touchline frenzy.

The home team could, should, have been level in the 72nd minute. McCormack and Motherwell worked a brilliant set piece whereby the number 11 found space to drill a shot right under the wall, flatfooting Banks and ending up less than an inch wide of the post. So, so close to the equaliser.

Then again, Hearts could have been two up when Velicka's brilliant curved ball released Ksanavicius on the left hand channel. He emerged into the penalty area and, although his angle was a bit acute, he still forced Smith into a good parrying save.

Motherwell were frustrated now. Their improvement under Mark McGhee has been evident and they had created lots of pressure. However, you could argue that overall, at this point, Hearts just about deserved their lead. Palazuelos had replaced Stewart a wee bit earlier and had already earned a booking, given rather harshly for simulation.

David Porter wasted what was almost a free header, from a quickly taken corner. Calum Elliot, fired up by the abuse he was getting from the home crowd, was almost successful in getting on the end of a clearance he had charged down, but the defence swarmed around him very, very quickly. Elliot had put in a really, really good shift, epitomised by the way he worked a throw-in for his side, when absolutely nothing looked on. We had five minutes to go.

Kingston was ludicrously penalised when Mr Richmond ajudged his strong tackle to have been a foul. From the free-kick Motherwell had their first strong penalty claim of the evening - McCormack may or may not have been hauled down as he chased the through-ball.

Banks made the save of the night on 86 minutes - Porter found himself clean through and tried to prod the ball home. For a wee second it looked as though he had, but our keeper threw himself heroically across the goal and palmed it away from danger.

In the 91st minute, right after we thought Larry might have had a penalty, Hearts looked to have made the game safe. Larry rolled the ball into the path of substitute Velicka...strangely all by himself with the home defence posted missing. Andrius was coolness personified as he took a touch and lifted it over Smith before he could make any impact. A great finish, finally a goal from a striker, and all three points sealed.

In the last seconds, Banksie made another brilliant stop, this time from a 30 yard piledriver by substitute Grabban. It was the last meaningful moment of the night, as Mr Richmond brought proceedings to a close after nearly five and a half minutes of injury time.

This win is long overdue - as rightly despondent as we were last week, tonight we were proud of a gritty, determined and (mostly) composed display. The Motherwell supporters embarrassed themselves slightly by taunting us with the slogan of 'cheats', as our players left the pitch. In a hard-fought contest like this one, losing is sometimes difficult to accept.

Motherwell: Smith; Quinn, Paterson, Reynolds, Craigan, McGarry, Hughes, Lasley (Porter, 56), O'Donnell (Grabban, 89), McCormack, Clarkson. Booked: Paterson. Subs not used: Meldrum, McLean, Mensing, Fitzpatrick, Corrigan.

Hearts: Banks; Neilson, Tall, Berra, Wallace; Kingston, Stewart (Palazuelos, 64), Zaliukas, Ksnavicius (Ivaskevicius, 89); Elliot, Nade (Velicka, 57). Booked: Tall, Neilson, Elliot, Palazuelos, Zaliukas. Subs not used: Basso, Mikoliunas, McGowan, Wallace.

Referee: Charlie Richmond

Top man: Everyone played well. Larry scored one and set up the other but his right-flank partner Robbie Neilson worked tirelessly all night