THE Scottish Cup is all about fairytale stories.

Keith Watson may not be reaching Aladdin status quite yet, but he certainly has a pleasant little yarn to spin from his day out at Fir Park. He travelled south on the team bus on the understanding he was only filling a jersey on the bench, as he has been quite a lot recently.

Little did he realise that Jaroslaw Fojut had been ill overnight and, after the Pole had reported himself incapable of playing after the warm-up, Watson was told to get ready for his first start in a month.

Not only did he score the winner with eight minutes to go following an exhilarating affair that saw Dundee United squander six chances involving a player straight through on the goalkeeper, he popped up in stoppage-time to do just enough to force John Sutton to head over from a Craig Reid knock-on.

An unlikely hero, indeed. The same could be said of John Souttar. He only played because Calum Morris was suspended, but it was his effort on only his third appearance of the season that got Jackie McNamara's side back into it after Henrik Ojamaa had opened the scoring early on.

McNamara said: "I am delighted for Keith while John has had a hard time since being injured at the start of the season. We had so many one against ones and didn't score. I think I will be giving them six seconds from the halfway line to score in training this week."

This time last year, Motherwell lost to Albion Rovers in the cup. Twelve months on, you could argue that things are even worse. With Kenny Black unaware of whether he will be in the dug-out for Saturday's league match with Celtic and no new information about rival ownership bids from a South American consortium and the Well Society, they look rudderless.

Black believes something definitive has to happen and the fans appear to be thinking the same way. Of a 4827-strong crowd yesterday, only 2766 were wearing claret and amber. The players, apparently, let their frustrations out after the final whistle too.

"We had a little bit of a discussion in the dressing-room with the captain and two or three others," said Black. "The whole club needs a bit of clarity."

Yet, Black's side started so positively. Seven minutes in, Paul Lawson fed the ball to Ojamaa 20 yards out and he sent a fantastic right-footed shot past the despairing dive of goalkeeper Radoslaw Cierzniak. They could easily have gone 2-0 up midway through the opening half.

Lawson, later to hobble off injured, played a terrific diagonal ball to find Zaine Francis-Angol on the left and he put a dangerous cross into the heart of the area. Josh Law did well to lose Conor Townsend and should have done better than send his header into Cierzniak's waiting arms.

It is maybe no surprise, given the disruption to the original gameplan, that it took United a while to find their stride. Dan Twardzik did produce the first of several good saves when blocking a Gary Mackay-Steven shot with his foot within the first 10 minutes, but the match was edging towards the half-hour mark before the visitors really began to overpower their hosts.

Stuart Armstrong played a slick one-two with Chris Erskine before sliding his shot past the far post. The United midfielder then sent Dow straight through with a delightful pass only to see Twardzik block again.

Mackay-Steven, to be replaced by Aidan Connolly, should really have burst the net a little before the hour. Erskine sent him clean through and he should be ashamed for sidefooting his attempt straight at Twardzik. With Motherwell taking on the look of a punch-drunk fighter, the equaliser had to come. Souttar delivered on 66 minutes. Armstrong fired in a good corner from the left, but the United centre-half did not even have to jump to put his header from close range into the net. Judging by John Sutton's anguished reaction, he was responsible for losing concentration. Calum Butcher, on at the break for Charlie Telfer, and Armstrong became the latest players to blow it when looking into the whites of Twardzik's eyes, but United's relentless pressing had to tell eventually.

Justice was finally done when Townsend slung in a ball from the left and Watson timed his run perfectly to head home from close-range.