Last updated on .From the section Scottish Premiership

Jamie MacDonald's penalty save gave Kilmarnock the "boot up the backside" they needed to come back to beat Motherwell, says manager Steve Clarke.

Clarke's side already trailed to a Curtis Main strike when MacDonald denied Main from 12 yards.

Chris Burke levelled, Greg Stewart added a second and Eamonn Brophy's penalty completed victory as Kilmarnock moved up to third in the Premiership.

Motherwell remain 10th but are now just a point above bottom side Dundee.

It was the second time in four days that Motherwell have lost after taking the lead, having scored first in their League Cup quarter-final defeat by Hearts on Wednesday.

And Clarke believes Motherwell's failure to double their lead from the spot "changes the momentum in the game".

"It gave us maybe a little boot up the backside that we needed just to get started and once we got started, I thought we were decent," he told BBC Scotland.

Hosts galvanised by penalty save

Stephen Robinson said his team looked more like "a Motherwell we know" in that midweek cup defeat and the opening 20 minutes at Rugby Park resembled the force they were last season.

Motherwell did not give Kilmarnock a moment's peace, culminating in Main getting his second goal in two games with a low drive after latching on to Ryan Bowman's header.

It could have been even better for the visitors when Stephen O'Donnell was penalised for his challenge on Aaron Taylor-Sinclair in the box. But Main, successful from the spot in midweek, lacked conviction and MacDonald dived to his left to save.

It proved to be a turning point that galvanised Kilmarnock and suddenly wingers Jordan Jones and Burke made an impact on the game.

Jones cut in from the left to draw a save from Trevor Carson and Burke was on hand to force home the rebound - his second equaliser in as many games.

Then, after Kirk Broadfoot's header was cleared off the line by Richard Tait, Stewart drove at the Motherwell defence before curling a sweet strike past Carson.

Kilmarnock maintained their superiority into the second period and Brophy made no mistake from 12 yards following Liam Donnelly's foul on Stewart.

It could have been an even more convincing win for Kilmarnock, with Carl McHugh striking his own post and Brophy being denied by Carson late on.

Kilmarnock have won four and drawn one of their opening seven Premiership games

Stewart & Brophy shine for Kilmarnock - analysis

BBC Scotland's John Barnes at Rugby Park

Motherwell have been crying out for their strikers to deliver in the league and they did for the opening goal, but that was one of only a few occasions they managed to get the better of the home defence.

At the other end, the performance of the pairing of Brophy and Stewart shows why Kris Boyd has been warming the bench recently. Brophy made the decoy run as Stewart picked his spot with another terrific left-foot strike for his third goal in four games.

Stewart looks a much improved player from his spell on loan at Aberdeen last season - fitter and more confident. It's not only his striking ability that is shining through, but also his link-up play and ability to find space.

With both Stewart and Brophy having now scored three in their past four matches, a made-to-measure tracksuit may be required for Boyd.

'Kilmarnock handle adversity' - manager reaction

'The ref either got them both right or both wrong' - Clarke on penalties

Kilmarnock manager Steve Clarke: "If you want to be a good team then you have to learn to deal with adversity on the pitch. At the moment we're showing that we can handle that.

"I've got good forwards sitting on the bench not involved at the moment and they're not involved because the front players have done really well for us. We look a threat."

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson: "At 2-0 up, we probably go on and win the game. The second half was poor.

"We looked like we had a severe lack of confidence, which you do when you're not winning football matches. It's just not happening at the moment so the only way to get out of that is to work harder."