Motherwell 3, East Fife 0: Well cruise into Viaplay Cup last 16 with convincing win

Motherwell cruised into the Viaplay Cup last 16 with a comfortable win over 10-man East Fife at Fir Park that was effectively wrapped up in 10 first-half minutes.

Goals from Lennon Miller and Conor Wilkinson had the Premiership side ahead before Jonathan Page was shown a straight red card for a crude challenge on Blair Spittal in 43 minutes.

Callum Slattery added a third in the second half with a crisp strike in 66 minutes

The damage was done before Page's dismissal, but it didn't help.

Miller gave Motherwell the lead in 33 minutes when he chased a ball over the top and kept his composure to draw East Fife keeper Allan Fleming and slot past him into the bottom right corner.

Three minutes later Wilkinson picked up possession just outside the box, looked up, and smashed an inch-perfect shot into the bottom right corner.

The Fifers weren't without their chances, with Motherwell keeper Aston Oxborough forced to make a smart save from Jack Healy, while a goalmouth scramble was eventually cleared from a Gregor Nicol free-kick.

But Motherwell put the result beyond doubt in 66 minutes when Slattery picked the ball up on the right flank and danced his way through the defence before smashing the ball into the net.

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell made three changes to the side that beat Queen's Park here last weekend. Goalkeeper Aston Oxborough came in for Liam Kelly, while Stephen O'Donnell and Harry Paton replaced Stephen O'Donnell and Jon Obika.

New signing Davor Zdravkovski started on the bench.

His East Fife counterpart Greig McDonald made four changes to the side that beat Queen of the South on penalties last time out. In came Scott Shepherd, Connor McManus, Alan Trouten and Gregor Nicol.

The Fifers created the first real