Motherwell earned their first Scottish Premiership win of the season with a convincing triumph over Lanarkshire rivals Hamilton.

A thrilling start at the FYS Stadium had the visitors two ahead through Peter Hartley and a Liam Donnelly penalty as Jamie Hamilton saw red.

Three minutes later Ross Cunningham halved the deficit from the spot after Hartley was adjudged to have handled.

But Christopher Long's second goal in two games sealed a Motherwell victory.

The result takes the visitors' unbeaten run over Accies to four games, while Stephen Robinson's men leapfrog Brian Rice's side in the Scottish top flight into sixth.

Motherwell enjoy moment in the sun

The few remaining home fans trundled out of the FYS Stadium into the shadows of the concourse at full-time. Those in the away end, meanwhile, bellowed about being the pride of Lanarkshire in the Scottish sunshine.

Make no mistake about it, this victory dispersed not only the home support early but a grey cloud that was beginning to linger over the team from the other side of Strathclyde Park, at least in the eyes of some supporters who had grown uneasy over progress of late.

A rip-roaring start in the fledgling days of the League Cup had rocketed Motherwell into top-six favourites in the eyes of some, just one point in the league and a League Cup defeat to Hearts bringing the bar of expectation down a tad.

But with pressure mounting in the stands for Robinson's men to rekindle their early promise, a dominant display elevated them out of reach of Hamilton who offered little here, particularly after going down to 10 men. So much so, the second half slowed to almost training-game pace as Well sat in, allowing a blunt Hamilton time to try to break them down. They didn't.

The damage really was done in the first half, and Hamilton literally had a hand in it.

For the opener, Liam Polworth's corner reached Motherwell captain Hartley on a late run. A combination of him and his marker sent the ball looping into the far corner, the former running away to claim the glory.

Five minutes later, Polworth again played his part by heading the ball goalwards from five yards out. Hamilton managed to get his head and hand in the way on the line, forcing Andrew Dallas to send him off with Donnelly taking his tally this season to seven goals from seven games with the resulting penalty.

However, out of nowhere, Accies got a lifeline courtesy of another handball. A looping ball into the box appeared to hit the hand of Hartley. It looked harsh, but Cunningham made no mistake from the spot as he rammed the ball down the middle beyond Mark Gillespie.

With a man down, it failed to spark life into Hamilton, and just five minutes into the second half the game was over. Long was afforded time and space to amble across the edge of the Hamilton box before drifting inside on the right. He shot across the box and everyone in red and white missed the ball as it shuttled into the far corner.

Motherwell are now up and running. For Accies, memories of their 2-0 win over Kilmarnock two weeks ago are starting to fade.

Man of the match - Christopher Long

BBC Scotland's Jane Lewis at the FYS Stadium

There were plenty of contenders for Man of the Match from a Motherwell point of view with the strikers dominating. But Christopher Long just shaves it, and not just because of his goal, which wrapped up a comfortable win.

His movement and awareness of others around him impressed. All afternoon he looked lively, constantly chasing the ball, getting on the end of passes to create and set up chances. His goal was well taken, too. At first it looked like he was going to pass, but he had a go himself. He wasn't afraid to take things on and his goal was proof of that.

'It's a double whammy' - Reaction

Hamilton manager Brian Rice: "Motherwell deserved to win the match, but we're down to 10 men early on and from the man getting sent off and it's a double whammy for us.

"On the handball, to me there are too many grey areas. If it's a sending off it's a sending off. Andrew Dallas is a very good referee and handled the game well, so no complaints with the officials but the rules are too grey for me. But I don't want to get caught up talking about decisions, we lost the game 3-1 today and we're really disappointed."

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson: "I thought we were excellent at times today, actually when they went down to 10 men it caused us a little bit of a problem.

"I'm really pleased with them. The most pleasing aspect is that they've learnt lessons from the Hearts game. Our decision-making at 3-1 was very good, so we managed the game a lot better. I thought Peter Hartley helped with that and his experience, so lots of positives to take in."