Two second half goals were enough for United to seal a place in the last 16 of the Scottish cup.
United made three changes to the side that beat Kilmarnock last week, John Souttar and Ryan Dow coming in for the suspended Callum Morris and Nadir Ciftci, whilst an injury in the warm up forced United into bringing in Keith Watson for Jaroslaw Fojut. Paul Lawson, Zaine Francis-Angol and Josh Law all came into the starting eleven for Motherwell.
Motherwell opened the scoring after seven minutes when Henrik Ojaama picked the ball up 20 yards from goal before firing a ferocious shot into the corner of Cierzniak's net.
As the first half wore on, a combination of poor finishing and brilliant goalkeeping from Dan Twardzik stopped United from equalizing. Just before the half hour mark, Stuart Armstrong struck a shot just wide of the post, denying United from scoring a brilliantly worked team goal.
In the second half, United began dominating in terms of possession and on numerous occasions passed up golden opportunities for a leveller. After two decent chances falling for Chris Erskine, at 65 minutes, United finally equalised. Armstrong's looping corner into the box fell nicely for John Souttar whose powerful header flew into the net from seven yards.
Eight minutes before full-time, Ryan Dow's floated cross inside the box was brilliantly attacked by Keith Watson with the resulting header placed right into the corner of Dan Twardzik's net, sending the United fans behind the goal into incredible happiness.
Motherwell- Twardzij, Ramsden, McManus, Lawson (Reid '46), Sutton, Vigurs, Lasley, O'Brien, Francis-Angol, Law (Ainsworth '85) (Erwin '75), Ojaama.
Unused subs- Neilson, Kerr, Thomas, Cadden.
United- Cierzniak, Watson, Dillon, Souttar, Townsend, Paton, Armstrong, Mackay-Steven (Connolly 61), Erskine (Adeymo 84), Dow, Telfer (Butcher 85)
Unused subs- Connolly, Spittal, Spark.
Referee- Craig Thomson
Attendance 4,826
United made three changes to the side that beat Kilmarnock last week, John Souttar and Ryan Dow coming in for the suspended Callum Morris and Nadir Ciftci, whilst an injury in the warm up forced United into bringing in Keith Watson for Jaroslaw Fojut. Paul Lawson, Zaine Francis-Angol and Josh Law all came into the starting eleven for Motherwell.
Motherwell opened the scoring after seven minutes when Henrik Ojaama picked the ball up 20 yards from goal before firing a ferocious shot into the corner of Cierzniak's net.
As the first half wore on, a combination of poor finishing and brilliant goalkeeping from Dan Twardzik stopped United from equalizing. Just before the half hour mark, Stuart Armstrong struck a shot just wide of the post, denying United from scoring a brilliantly worked team goal.
In the second half, United began dominating in terms of possession and on numerous occasions passed up golden opportunities for a leveller. After two decent chances falling for Chris Erskine, at 65 minutes, United finally equalised. Armstrong's looping corner into the box fell nicely for John Souttar whose powerful header flew into the net from seven yards.
Eight minutes before full-time, Ryan Dow's floated cross inside the box was brilliantly attacked by Keith Watson with the resulting header placed right into the corner of Dan Twardzik's net, sending the United fans behind the goal into incredible happiness.
Motherwell- Twardzij, Ramsden, McManus, Lawson (Reid '46), Sutton, Vigurs, Lasley, O'Brien, Francis-Angol, Law (Ainsworth '85) (Erwin '75), Ojaama.
Unused subs- Neilson, Kerr, Thomas, Cadden.
United- Cierzniak, Watson, Dillon, Souttar, Townsend, Paton, Armstrong, Mackay-Steven (Connolly 61), Erskine (Adeymo 84), Dow, Telfer (Butcher 85)
Unused subs- Connolly, Spittal, Spark.
Referee- Craig Thomson
Attendance 4,826