The match however did not start all that brightly for the dons as Well keeper Lee Hollis punted the ball up field, Shaughnessy went to meet the ball with his head and did so, although was shoved by Anier the new signing for Motherwell in the process. No freekick was given and the ref waved play on. As a result there was a gap at right back and Sutton slid in Anier who found himself in acres of space as Shaughnessy was trying to recover and get back into shape. The new signing finished well and curled the ball into the roof of the net inside the first minute. Aberdeen did not let their heads go down and kept plying their passing game that worked so well for them last week against Kilmarnock. Gaps began to open in the Motherwell defence after a great piece of linking play between Flood and McGinn, but McGinn could only shoot straight at the Keeper who turned the shot behind for a corner. Pawlett then had Aberdeen's second clear cut opportunity. He drove at the heart of the Well defence and skipped past two players and smashed a shot at goal, however the shot took a nick off a Motherwell defender and that lifted the ball up and hit the crossbar. A few more chances came and went for Aberdeen as Jack curled an effort wide and Zola struck the bar again after leaving McManus for dead at the edge of the box. Aberdeen were unlucky to go in at half time trailing as they deserved to at least be level at the break.
Zola was thrust into the limelight again in the second half after Ryan Jack whipped in a brilliant ball to the back post finding Johnny Hayes who then cut back for Zola. Calvin Zola however swiped at the ball an instead struck the air totally fluffing his chance to open his Aberdeen scoring account. Aberdeen should of been ahead by now, finally though the breakthrough came in the 62nd minute. A poor touch from a Motherwell defender allowed Hayes to latch onto the ball and drive into the box, Hayes looked like he was about to skip past McManus in the box however the big defender had other ideas and brought Hayes down, the referee pointed straight to the spot. McGinn expertly curled the ball into the top right hand corner of the goal to draw Aberdeen level and to send the travelling support up into celebration. Fourteen minutes later the Dons found themselves in front. Aberdeen were awarded a free kick on the left wing for a foul on McGinn. Hayes stepped up to whip the ball in and what a great ball it was. Reynolds out of nowhere peeled off his man and timed his run to the front of the cluster of players perfectly and unmarked bulleted the header past Lee Hollis in the Motherwell goal. Aberdeen were now playing with a swagger and the football was free flowing. Once again another great opening came through Niall McGinn great play down the right wing saw him isolated the Motherwell defender beat him drove to the bi line and cut back for Magennis whos shot was on target and was heading in bottom corner when the keeper manage to somehow flick his leg out an prevent the scoreline going 1-3 to Aberdeen. However the resulting corner from that play proved to have Aberdeen's third goal wrapped up within it. As the corner was taken Magennis attempted to run to the front post however was pulled back by McManus who conceded his second penalty of the day. McGinn once again stepped up and put the ball the same place as before making it Motherwell 1-3 Aberdeen. Gregg Wylde then made his Dons debut and looked the part as he made runs at the Motherwell defence and key passes. If Aberdeen wanted to to really go for it two or three more goal opportunities were possible as the Motherwell defence had began to tire due to their midweek European ventures.
Once again for the second week in a row another terrific performance from Aberdeen who showed composure and class when it mattered. Aberdeen just need to now keep looking onward and upward and take each fixture as it comes so we don't get too carried away with ourselves.
FT: Motherwell 1-3 Aberdeen
Motherwell
- 01 Hollis
- 03 Hammell
- 04 Ramsden Booked
- 05 Hutchinson Booked
- 06 McManus Booked
- 07 McFadden (Moore - 86' )
- 11 Vigurs Booked
- 14 Lasley (Kerr - 85' Booked )
- 17 Francis-Angol
- 09 Sutton
- 24 Anier (McHugh - 86' )
Substitutes
- 12 Nielsen
- 15 Cummins
- 20 Kerr
- 08 Lawson
- 18 Carswell
- 16 McHugh
- 22 Moore
Aberdeen
- 01 Langfield
- 02 Shaughnessy
- 04 Anderson (Robertson - 51' )
- 06 Reynolds
- 27 Hector Booked
- 08 Flood Booked
- 11 Hayes
- 14 Pawlett (Wylde - 72' )
- 22 Jack
- 06 Zola (Magennis - 64' )
- 10 McGinn
Substitutes
- 20 Weaver
- 03 Robertson
- 17 Wylde
- 26 Storie
- 35 Murray
- 09 Vernon
- 21 Magennis
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