As the last embers of summer finally fizzled out in the final night of September in Lanarkshire, those around Motherwell turned to some old favourites to warm them up.

As it so happened, the annual North Lanarkshire Beer Festival was in town at the Motherwell Concert Hall as revellers gathered to drink lagers from around the world while listening to the tones of bands such as the Holy Pistol Club.

Only a couple of yards up Airbles Road, around 3000 natives descended on Fir Park to suffer a much more sobering experience as their team were shot down by Hearts.

The score may have finished 3-1 to the team from Edinburgh due to goals from a Stephen McManus own goal, Callum Patterson and Arnaud Djoum rendering a stunning-but-late James McFadden free-kick as a consolation, but it was a game that Motherwell not only could have won themselves, but contributed to the points going back east along the M8.

Mark McGhee’s team went into the game knowing that a win would take them second in the Ladbrokes Premiership while extending their unbeaten run to five, with their opponents knowing any other result would do likewise in their favour.

A clutch of chances fell the way of the hosts who were also denied by Hearts and Scotland goalkeeper Jack Hamilton as well as the flag of Sean Carr, but their fallibility at the back would be their undoing in the first half here as the booze flowed down the road.

To make matters worse, Scotland Under-21 midfielder Chris Cadden was also lost to injury due to a tight hamstring.

It was an unchanged lineup from the Steelmen side that salvaged a point at Firhill last Saturday, while the lively Jamie Walker would return to replace Don Cowie.

It was a first off filled with frustration for the Motherwell supporters that braved a chilly Lanarkshire Friday night. With Cadden hobbling off the home side carved out two great chances in the opening period. Firstly with a neat interchange sending Scott McDonald through on goal but he could only fire straight at Hamilton, while a deflected Craig Clay shot off the leg of Perry Kitchen forced the Jambos stopper into a stunning save from point-blank range.

It appeared that both teams would go into half-time level, but a calamitous minute within seconds of the break proved costly.

A cheap free-kick given away by Louis Moult led to a poor cross that was then flapped at by Craig Samson. The ball eventually worked its way to captain Keith Lasley who, instead of launching the ball into touch to surely trigger half-time, tried a dinked pass forward to Richard Tait on the break.

Instead, the Well right-back failed bring the ball down before Nicholson robbed him of possession, spun 30 yards out, and sent a wayward shot into the back of the net via the leg of Motherwell defender McManus.

Motherwell emerged stronger in the second half and thought they’d pulled level after eight minutes as Moult turned in a McDonald rebound that came back off the bar, but the flag was correctly up.

A header each from McDonald and Tait would both go straight at Hamilton, and those spurned chances only heightened the frustration when Hearts struck again with 23 minutes to go, this time Patterson thundering a stunning shot into the top corner from 30 yards from a recycled ball into the box.

The game was finally killed off when Djoum did likewise from the edge of the area as the game ticked towards full-time.

There was still time for one moment of Motherwell magic, though. And it came from fan favourite McFadden who bent a stunning free-kick into the top corner from 30 yards deep into injury time.

Not many were still in the ground to see it. You can only hope those who left were in the pub.