TO suggest goals change games is akin to suggesting the South Pole can get a bit chilly.

However, this most obvious cliché was hard to ignore at Fir Park. Hamilton Academical were dominated and outplayed by Motherwell and yet managed to win this derby with a wonderful strike which will linger long in the memory.

Three quarters of the game had passed and it had been the home side who had done all the attacking until Motherwell’s Tom Aldred tripped Mikel Miller on the edge of the box.

Ross Cunningham and Steven Boyd were then sent on by Hamilton manager Martin Canning with the former told to take on the free-kick.

His shot was blocked, the ball came back and Boyd, with his very first touch, produced a stunning half-volley which found the top corner of the net.

Hamilton had been second best up until then but should have scored two or three in the final 23 minutes on what in the end was an oddly intriguing afternoon in Lanarkshire.

“These substitutions are great when they work,” said a happy Canning. “I told both of them to go out and enjoy themselves and that there was no pressure on them because we were hardly setting the game on fire. Ross is great on free-kicks, even if this one was a bit close for him, and that’s why I sent him on and it turns out that Steven has scored a terrific goal. Ross has a bit of magic in him. He was annoyed with himself for missing a few chances late on but this is a player who has improved so much over the summer.

“I told the players that when you go to Motherwell you have to defend your box, because if you don’t then Motherwell will win and I thought we did that brilliantly. I’m really pleased with what was a great win for us.”

Boyd admitted there was only one thing in his mind when the ball dropped to him.

He said: “I just didn’t want to sky it and for a second thought I had. I don’t think I’ve ever scored with my first touch before.”

There were a lot of empty seats at Fir Park yesterday. Motherwell reached two cup finals last season, have a sensible ticket price policy in place and yet even in the blocks where season books are sold, there was plenty of space.

This part of the world has been hit harder than most in terms of job losses and industry being shut down. There are more important things in life than going to a game.

But it is a shame that so few watched a derby which lacked quality but had plenty of blood and thunder, and who doesn’t like a bit of that. Accies brought 367 hardy souls. At least they enjoyed themselves.

The best – only – chance of the first half came on 16 minutes when Chris Cadden curled in a cross from the right and Gael Bigirimana’s header was parried away by Hamilton goalkeeper Gary Woods.

The other talking point was the challenge, let’s go with uncompromising, challenge by Motherwell striker Conor Sammon on Ziggy Gordon which resulted in a yellow card. He went in with a shoulder and hint of an elbow. It easily could have been a red.

The game got better. Woods pushed away a free-kick from Bigirimana and Curtis Main had a couple of decent efforts. But Accies got in front on

67 minutes and everything changed. Having scored a terrific goal, Hamilton then missed one excellent chance and a sitter.

With 74 minutes gone, Rakish Bingham did really well to manufacture a cross from the right which found Cunningham who swung his left foot at the ball and put it over from a few yards out.

The Accies academy graduate made a real difference but in injury time had, as they say, one of them.

Tom Taiwo broke on his own from the hal-way line, lined up to shoot inside the Motherwell box but unselfishly squared to Cunningham who, from 10 yards, put the ball wide when he had an empty goal to aim at.

“It is hard to criticise the players because they gave me everything, but in the final third our decision making wasn’t good enough,” said Stephen Robinson, the Motherwell manager. “We gave away a stupid free-kick but their boy scored a wonderful goal. I don’t know if he will score a goal like that again, probably not. If he could, he’d play for Barcelona.”