James Scott scored twice as Motherwell closed to within one point of third place in the Scottish Premiership after a comfortable win over St Mirren.

Stephen Robinson's side edged closer to Aberdeen thanks to a brace from 19-year-old Scott in the first half.

Motherwell extended their lead in the second half courtesy of a short-range finish from Allan Campbell.

The Paisley side sit bottom of the table by a point after six defeats from their last seven games.

Scott makes short work of dejected St Mirren

This was a night which started badly for St Mirren and simply got steadily worse.

The first blow came after just seven minutes when they lost Gary MacKenzie to what looked like a hamstring pull following a challenge with Devante Cole. The towering centre-half is a big player for the Paisley side, who never really looked assured at the back thereafter.

The first quarter was, frankly, torture. Blessed relief, in the form of some quality football, did materialise before the half was out. Sadly for the home fans, it was the visitors who provided it.

One man in particular stood out, and not just because of his shock of blonde highlights. Scott is only 19 but, in common with many of his Fir Park team-mates, looks to have a very good future in the game.

There was much to admire about the two goals he scored in quick succession. The first was all individual. Set up by Liam Grimshaw's scampering run up the right, Scott was on the touchline when he received the ball. Quick as a flash, he skipped past his marker and unleashed a perfect low drive straight into the bottom right-hand corner of Vaclav Hladky's net.

Moments later, he was celebrating again. Some slack play in midfield by Tony Andreu presented Liam Polworth with the ball, and he sent a precise pass into the path of Scott's equally well-timed run, and his chipped finish over Hladky was as cool as it was impudent.

Two moments of genuine quality, and we already had our man of the match. Over and above his goals, Scott was a constant nuisance for the home defence, full of intelligent running and always comfortable on the ball. He might feel he should have completed a first-half hat trick, but fired just wide.

It wasn't completely one-way traffic. Kyle Magennis almost equalised for St Mirren when they were just a goal down but his shot was deflected narrowly past Mark Gillespie's left-hand post.

By and large, though, St Mirren were nowhere near the standards they've set in recent matches; and the standard manager Jim Goodwin demanded pre-match, with key fixtures looming against Hamilton, Livingston and St Johnstone before Christmas.

If Goodwin gave his men a half-time rollicking, it didn't have the desired effect. Quite the opposite. Motherwell were comfortable with their lead, and added to it after the hour. Jermaine Hylton's run was determined and his cutback was perfect, leaving Campbell nothing to do but tap the ball over the line to surely seal the deal for the visitors.

Trying to add insult to injury, Cole nearly scored a fourth, only for Ryan Flynn to head off his own line. A couple of quick corners followed, as Motherwell's total domination continued, and from one of them, Declan Gallagher headed narrowly over.

This was supposed to be a tricky away match for Motherwell but it proved anything but. Goalkeeper Mark Gillespie didn't have much to do until the dying minutes, when St Mirren struck the crossbar either side of two good saves from the goalkeeper to keep out substitute Kyle McAllister and then Andreu.

Motherwell are putting together yet another impressive season. That's seven goals in their last two games, and they'll head into the festive fixture list a point off third place and full of the joys of the season.

Man of the match - James Scott

You could have picked any of the three main Motherwell midfielders. Once again, Polworth, Campbell and Liam Donnelly all had fine matches and, between them, controlled much of the game.

But for a first-half display that yielded two goals, and many other moments of note, the award should surely go to Scott. That's six goals for the season so far. It will be very surprising if he doesn't significantly add to that before the season's end.

'We punished them' - reaction

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin: "Up until the first goal I didn't think there was much between the teams. But as soon as Motherwell got that first goal, it almost seemed to knock the wind out of a few sails and we didn't recover then after.

"Tonight was no reflection of the team we saw in the last two games."

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson: "We got back to keeping clean sheets and were a real threat going forward. Every time we attacked we looked like we were causing them problems.

"St Mirren are a very difficult team to break down. They've only lost two games here. They don't concede many goals. So for us to create that many chances and open them up that often shows the level of our performance."