The last time these sides met back in August, Kilmarnock lost 3-0 and had three players sent off.
Revenge was sweet at Fir Park as a stunning 22-yard free-kick from Kris Boyd two minutes into injury time ended Kilmarnock's poor recent run and kept Motherwell firmly anchored at the foot of the table having now gone eight league matches since their last win.
Even without injured starlet James McFadden and suspended skipper Scott Leach, Well made a promising start although striker Dirk Lehmann was unable to control a defence-splitting pass after only two minutes.
Khaled Kemas seemed to have done everything right in the 13th minute but his beautifully flighted chip finished just the wrong side of the Kilmarnock crossbar.
Derek Adams also used subtlety rather than power midway through the first half only to see his curling shot drift fractionally wide.
Kilmarnock, who had contributed nothing so far, finally came to life with a pair of decent efforts from Paul Di Giacomo and Steve Fulton while Adams kept goalkeeper Gordon Marshall on his toes with a wicked deflection from close range.
The queerest indication of the visitors' growing confidence came on the stroke of half time when home keeper Francois Dubourdeau needed to make a brave block at the feet of Peter Canero.
Kilmarnock resurgence continued after the break and in a glorious 15-minute spell James Fowler, Alan Mahood and Boyd all threatened to open the scoring.
Lehmann's looping header and a driving run by full-back Martyn Corrigan got Motherwell back into contention and led to a crazy closing ten minutes of end to end football with neither team paying any attention to defence.
Adams, with a free-kick for Motherwell, and Kilmarnock's Chris Innes with a volley both missed chances, but Boyd still had something up his sleeve