Two days after being officially confirmed as Jim Jefferies’ successor, Calderwood was given a brutal reminder here of the extent of the job ahead of him.
Kilmarnock, competitive for much of the first half, crumbled after the interval, allowing Motherwell to score three goals and coast to victory.
To compound a frustrating afternoon for Calderwood, news filtered through at full-time that Falkirk had closed the gap at the foot of the table to just a point after securing an unlikely draw at Celtic. It never rains but it pours, the man with the tan must have grimaced.
“We always knew it was going to be hard,” Calderwood said. “We have given points away again but don’t take anything away from Motherwell who played very well and deserved their victory.”
This, then, was the perfect start for Craig Brown, in charge of Motherwell for the first time in a game after being installed as interim boss 17 days ago.
Jim O’Brien had not always featured under previous manager Jim Gannon, most notably after Aberdeen made public their interest in the winger, but on this form it will be hard for any manager to leave him out.
O’Brien chose the perfect time to score his first and then second goals of the season, his second-half strikes turning Motherwell’s territorial superiority into a much-deserved three points. After five defeats on the spin, the win was badly needed and lifted the Fir Park side into the top half of the league table.
When Lukas Jutkiewicz added a third 12 minutes from time, the home fans started to stream towards the exits.
“It’s a clean sheet and a good away win for us,” Brown later acknowledged. “Motherwell hadn’t won in eight games and coming here we knew it was going to be very difficult.
“There are deficiencies that we still need to concern ourselves with but tonight we are happy boys.”
The day had started on a cheery note for Calderwood as he squeezed out the tunnel moments before kick-off to a blast of The Undertones’ “Jimmy Jimmy” and a big hug from old pal Brown.
The new manager resisted the urge to make too many changes and again entrusted Kevin Kyle with the captaincy, despite the striker’s impending disciplinary hearing for blabbing to the press about a recent chat with his chairman.
Perhaps preoccupied by recent events, Kyle was largely anonymous throughout the contest, a second-half booking for yelling in the face of referee Craig Thomson symptomatic of a frustrating afternoon for the former Sunderland man.
After a few near things from Jutkiewicz, it was Ross Forbes who came closest to opening the scoring for Motherwell.
His free kick from 25 yards seemed to clip the defensive wall before brushing the side netting.
Mehdi Taouil looked in the mood for Kilmarnock and it was no surprise that it was the Moroccan who had their best opportunity of the first half, accepting a pass from Simon Ford, then bending a shot that drifted narrowly wide of goal. Rugby Park oohed and aahed its approval.
Ten minutes into the second half, though, and Kilmarnock were behind. It was a nice move from Motherwell’s point of view, Forbes’ dead-weight pass teeing it up nicely for O’Brien, who crashed a left-foot shot past Bell.
It was his first goal for a year, his reward a yellow card for getting too friendly with the visiting supporters.
Kilmarnock should have responded almost immediately. Taouil’s hanging cross fell perfectly for Mark Burchill in the centre of the goal but the former Celtic striker couldn’t keep his header under the crossbar.
“That would have given us confidence if we had scored at that time,” Calderwood lamented.
Buoyed by the let-off, Motherwell scored twice more to finish the game off. Chris Humphrey fed Giles Coke who centred for O’Brien to score his second of the match at the near post, then Jutkiewicz added a third from close range.
That the scoring stopped there was probably scant consolation for Calderwood on a difficult day.
