Kaiyne Woolery did not realise Motherwell had gone down to 10 men as he helped his team see out victory over Dundee United in the worst conditions he had played in.

Barry Maguire picked up a second yellow card in the 83rd minute after sliding in to challenge Ian Harkes on the sodden Fir Park surface.

But there appeared to be a slight delay before referee Steven McLean realised the midfielder had already been booked.

Woolery was too busy getting set for the free-kick to notice the subsequent red card and carried on as normal without noticing Maguire trudging off.

“I didn’t actually know we went to 10 men,” Woolery said. “I saw him get his second yellow card but it didn’t register in my head and I didn’t see him get his red. I don’t think the ref did it straight away, so I didn’t realise.

“When I came in, he said ‘I got sent off’. I said ‘what?’

“I came off (in the 89th minute) so I wasn’t too bad but even when we did have 10 men we still looked in control of the game.”

Maguire could perhaps count himself unfortunate that he misjudged his tackle given the pitch was waterlogged by then following incessant rainfall.

The ball started slowing down in the early stages of the second half and there were some farcical moments such as Well skipper Stephen O’Donnell missing the ball from two yards out of the Dundee United goal as he anticipated a bounce that never came.

Woolery, who signed from Tranmere in the summer, said: “This is what I imagined Scottish football to be like. It never rained like this (in England). The game would get called off.

“It was a new experience for me but I enjoyed it obviously as we got the win, that was the main thing.

“When people tried to run with the ball you didn’t really know what was going to happen with it. It was a bit of pot luck in the end. But we were 1-0 up and we just had to make sure we defended well and kept a clean sheet in the second half.

“I don’t think we were scared they were going to score, I think they only had two shots all game. But probably more scared the game was going to get called off more than anything.”

Motherwell boss Graham Alexander felt Woolery had produced his best performance in a Motherwell jersey as the Steelmen bounced back from Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by Dundee.

“I thought I got on the ball and tried to make things happen,” Woolery said. “It was difficult in the conditions but I thought the whole team played very well.

“We wanted to bounce back and show the fans that we still want this and we are still motivated to win games.”