Hibernian returned to the top of the Scottish Premier League thanks to two second-half goals from Mixu Paatelainen.

But while the Finn can claim the first, he would have known little about it as he was merely in the right place at the right time to deflect in Russell Latapy's shot.

The stadium PA announcer duly credited Latapy with the goal despite the obvious deflection of a shot that might not even have been on target.

That opener had come from one of numerous free-kicks conceded by both sides.

Hibernian captain Frank Sauzee has a strict policy of shooting from any angle, any distance and on this occasion his 25-yarder was too hot for Andy Goram to handle.

Latapy was first to the rebound and saw his shot bounce into the net as Paatelainen rushed in ahead of Greg Strong.

That was in the 49th minute and there was no doubt about the credentials of the Finn's second ten minutes from time as he bustled his way through the heart of the Motherwell defence to get to a good old-fashioned long ball through the middle.

He might have been walking off the field with the matchball had a header not long after the first goal been inches lower - it had the beating of Goram, but rebounded back into play off the crossbar.

Alex McLeish's side deserved the points because they finished the stronger of the sides and Motherwell were unable to maintain their grip on the game for longer than the first half hour.

The first half had been a tale of two penalties that never were and a goal that was for only a few seconds.

McLeish's mistrust of referees is legendary and last week he had insisted his side had been harshly treated at Celtic, when a dubious-looking penalty had been awarded against them.

This time it was the official's inability to point to the spot that was the problem, with Dirk Lehmann twice the man denied.

Both looked plausible shouts, with Stephen McMillan the first alleged offender.

But referee Michael McCurry was convinced there was nothing in it and underlined that feeling by booking the German for over-protesting.

The second incident looked even more of cast-iron case as Benito Kemble sent Lehmann spinning turfwards.

That said, Hibernian had often been second best in an opening 45 minutes that were littered by fouls and bad-tempered moments.

Motherwell hardly resembled a side that had taken seven games to record a first league victory of the season and played the more attractive football.

Don Goodman, in up front for the injured John Spencer, sent an early effort curling wide but had the ball in the net in the 19th minute when the Hibs defence was caught cold.

Ange Oueifio was too determined for Latapy and both Stuart Elliott and Lee McCulloch got behind the defence to retrieve his throughball.

Elliott was there first and his shot smacked the far upright to be despatched emphatically by Goodman, who was aggrieved to find himself in an offside position.

Latapy was the architect of much of the home side's creative play and delighted the home fans by skipping over two lumbering tackles in close succession.

Paatelainen came close twice just before the break as the momentum began to swing in favour of the home side.

First he fired a shot on the turn just wide before heading an even better chance over Goram's crossbar to give the home fans a taste of the good things that were to come.

Lehmann had been McLeish's only change from the side that had gone down 3-0 at Celtic Park, with David Zitelli dropping down to the bench.

Motherwell manager Billy Davies in contrast is used to having to shuffle his pack because of injury, with Spencer and midfielder Scott Leitch the men unavailable.

Derek Townsley came in for the former Swindon man, who has a knee injury.

The result left Motherwell still at the wrong end of the table and while they can claim that their passing qualities are proof they are far better than that, their lack of a cutting edge up front must be a worry.

Hibernian, however, will not worry about that and are top tonight because they took their chances when they came.