Boyhood Motherwell fan Dean Cornelius scored his first goal for the club in a 2-0 victory over St Johnstone.

The 20-year-old midfielder chested the ball down 20 yards out and volleyed into the bottom corner 17 minutes into his first cinch Premiership start at Fir Park.

Kevin Van Veen doubled Motherwell’s lead 10 minutes after the interval with his fifth goal of the season.

The comfortable home victory moved Motherwell into fourth place in the table and kept St Johnstone on the bottom.

Saints boss Callum Davidson made four changes following the midweek defeat at Ibrox, with Eetu Vertainen out of the squad altogether after being blamed for the opening goal.

But the visitors looked short of confidence as they suffered a sixth consecutive defeat and went a fourth game without finding the net.

Sondre Solholm Johansen made a surprise return in central defence for Motherwell while Liam Donnelly made his first start since mid-August as the Northern Ireland international and Cornelius came into midfield.

The opener came after the visiting defence could only half-clear a cross from Sean Goss and Cornelius finished in style.

The visitors’ best first-half moments came when Viv Solomon-Otabor sent a cross just in front of Stevie May, and Liam Craig powered a long-range effort not far wide.

Motherwell came close again when Tony Watt drove a cross off Goss and just past the post.

Van Veen made the second goal out of a hopeful ball down the left channel from Johansen. The Dutchman twisted and turned and managed to get his shot past Jamie McCart and through Zander Clark’s legs.

Davidson brought on midfielder Jacob Butterfield for defender James Brown and switched to a back four two minutes after the goal, but the Perth side’s comeback attempts never really got going.

The only time they threatened was in the 69th minute when Liam Kelly tipped over Callum Booth’s shot after the left-back ran on to May’s cutback.

Motherwell brought on an extra defender, Jake Carroll, for Watt in the 82nd minute and further stifled the contest.