YESTERDAY may have been two months to the day until Hogmanay, but the spirit of the Reverend I.M.Jolly was the most prominent of the many ghosts and ghouls who made their presence felt at a Hallowe’en-themed Rugby Park yesterday.

There was Casper the friendly ghost, Darth Vader, zombies, Beetlejuice and even Bertie Bassett during a truly bizarre start to this 1-0 victory for Motherwell over Kilmarnock as a cavalcade of kids in predictable fancy dress costumes shuffled their way on to the pitch with both teams prior to kick off. Seeing the sight of visiting striker Theo Robinson helping out the three-foot tall Sith lord by carrying his lightsaber on to the park for him was a particular highlight.

Yet the nod to the legendary character played by Rikki Fulton was the biggest inspiration in the stands around Rugby Park. On an afternoon that contained little real incident in terms of meaty challenges or goal-mouth incidents, many among the 3000-odd home fans spent much of the 90 minutes moaning about near enough every decision referee Bobby Madden made – even the ones they got.

The man in the middle was the focus of much, if not all, of the dismay spewing out from the home sections as he seemed to upset them with the most minimal of fuss. Despite awarding 18 fouls against the men in claret and amber and booking two of their players, Madden’s decisions still caused most Kilmarnock fans to leap from their seats as if some naughty trick or treater had electrified them. His biggest crime came on 77 minutes when he booked Josh Magennis for simulation on the edge of the box, with play being stopped to issue a card as Kilmarnock broke into the box. There were also cries of him to send off Robinson for an alleged headbutt on defender Stuart Findlay, but the groans fell on deaf ears.

“I've not seen the incident again [Magennis' booking] but it looked to me we had a really good opportunity to score,” said Gary Locke, the Kilmarnock manager. “Slates [Craig Slater] has played the pass a wee bit heavy but I'm certainly not looking at Josh getting booked for diving.

"It was a scrappy game at times but I felt it was always a game we dominated. I thought if there was one team that was going to win the game it would be us, but I'm disappointed to lose such a late goal.”

Apart from the Magennis incident, and the fact Madden stopped the game too often, there was very little that merited such an outpouring of whinging. Perhaps the frustrations of their team not being able to convert their dominance into three points was behind the murmurs of discontent among the Kilmarnock support. Motherwell goalkeeper Connor Ripley had a handful of saves to make – with the majority right at him – but there was no heroism involved in the fact the home side failed to hit the mark yesterday. Often their shots were wide or blocked, but more importantly they didn’t do enough to carve open the opposition while being the most influential and controlling team for most of this encounter.

When they did have efforts on goal they were rarely testing. Captain Rory McKenzie fizzed a 30 yarder straight at Ripley just a couple of minutes before the break following a training ground set-piece, while after it Kallum Higginbotham’s attempt from outside the area saw the Motherwell keeper parry the ball before it was eventually cleared. Greg Kiltie volleyed over while Magennis couldn’t adjust quickly enough to a Higginbotham flick on that saw the Northern Irishman’s header spin wide of the far post.

Motherwell were not much better at the other end. In the first half Jamie MacDonald only had one a save to make from a changed front two of Theo Robinson and Scott McDonald replacing Louis Moult and Wes Fletcher. It was McDonald that provided the strike that trickled in to the Kilmarnock keeper’s arms, while after the break a Robinson header ended up at the same destination.

Yet, for the second week in a row it would be a substitute that would rescue the day for the Lanarkshire club, this time delivering Mark McGhee’s first win since returning. It was Moult who did the honours, poking home a loose ball in the box after Kilmarnock failed to properly clear a Stephen Pearson shot in a crowded box.

"Of course the three points are the be-all end-all I suppose but I'm still on a learning curve,” said the Motherwell manager. "I took two strikers out and put the other two in to take the opportunity to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can. During that process, to come away from home, and get a win here is a bonus in a sense."

There was a late chance for Kilmarnock to level in injury time through Tope Obadeyi, the substitute bursting into the box on the left side before shanking his shot high into the away stand behind the goal, carrying the Kilmarnock fans’ hopes of extending their Ladbrokes Premiership unbeaten run to four.

Don’t worry, though, it was probably the ref’s fault.