STUART McCall promised before this latest defeat that his players would try even harder to rescue themselves from their current predicament and, at about 4.15pm on Saturday, they belatedly obliged.

Had they rolled their sleeves up at kick-off, instead of when they had fallen three goals behind, it might have been a different story.

Dundee, who suffered a series of misfortunes going into the game, were excellent in the first half and at the start of the second, yet it says it all that manager Paul Hartley believes they can play better. With the exception of goalkeeper Dan Twardzik and the tireless Henrik Ojamaa, the Motherwell players simply rolled over until, as the complaints cascaded down from the stands, they belatedly found some purpose.

A club whose sights in recent seasons have been set on the Europa League are now firmly anchored in the bottom echelons of the SPFL Premiership. They had problems with injuries and illnesses at Fir Park, but Dundee rose above their own travails to sparkle for the first hour, by which time goals for David Clarkson, Gary Harkins and Greg Stewart allowed them to settle for flatness.

Two Dundee players - James McPake and Iain Davidson - suffered family bereavements in the days leading up to the game, with the former having to attend the funeral of his father. Then, as the teams were warming up, goalkeeper Kyle Letheren twisted a knee and had to be replaced by 22-year-old Scott Bain.

Given that the former Aberdeen trainee, who signed from Alloa Athletic in May, had not played in a Premiership match before, the portents did not look good for the visitors. In the event the replacement goalkeeper proved to be highly competent, because if Motherwell were generally feckless, one of their strikers, Ojamaa, was not.

Bain set the tone for his performance with an early, confident save from the Estonian, and the duel between the two continued throughout the game with Ojamaa getting a measure of satisfaction thanks to the goal which ignited Motherwell's belated show of spirit.

"It was just after 2.30pm when I found out I was playing," Bain said. "Kyle felt his knee when he came for a cross. He tried a couple more but it wasn't easing off, so I got a shout to get ready for the game.

"To be honest, it was probably the best thing for me to know that late. It was just a case of doing my warm-up and then straight into the game. There wasn't time to think about things."

Bain suffered his own misfortune in pre-season training when he had appendicitis, allowing Letheren to take the goalkeeper's jersey unchallenged. The No. 1 goalkeeper will now have a scan on his knee, which could give Bain an extended run as well as force Hartley to look for a back-up.

"That will be up to the manager," Bain said. "I just hope he thinks that I did well. I feel I did. You don't wish injuries on anyone and Kyle is a good mate of mine.

"It's good just to get that first Premiership match and not be overwhelmed by it. I felt comfortable when the game got started. When I left Aberdeen my main aim was to be back full-time. Now I have made this appearance I'll set new goals."

While Dundee put a poor run of four competitive defeats - two of them to city rivals Dundee United - behind them, Motherwell have now gone five games without a win and looked bereft of confidence in this one. Their aim of keeping it tight at the back lasted only as long as the three minutes it took former favourite Clarkson to volley home from inside the box.

The striker's celebrations were muted at the ground where he not only played for seven years, but witnessed the death of his uncle, Phil O'Donnell, through heart failure in a match against Dundee United in 2007. Clarkson and his Dundee strike partner Greg Stewart caused havoc in the home defence, ably abetted by a creative Dundee midfield.

"We're in a tough position right now but we just have to make sure we stick together and keep at it," said Ojamaa. "Obviously this team has done really well over the last couple of years so it's an unusual situation to be where we are now. Of course confidence is not going to be high and we're not going to walk around smiling.

"There wasn't a very positive mood after the game but everyone believes in the manager. I'm sure he's the man to turn it round."