The game took place on Wednesday 20 October 1999 and even at that early stage in the season both teams were in trouble. Aberdeen were at the bottom of the table, without a win and with only one point to show for their nine outings and they had just been thumped 7-0 by Celtic. Motherwell were ninth in the ten team table with seven points from seven games. We had not won a home league game since the previous Boxing Day – it had been a long ten months!
The fixture should have taken place a month earlier but Fir Park had been waterlogged by the September rains and around 5,000 fans gathered under the floodlights unaware that they were about to witness a classic.
Scotland’s best, Goram and Leighton, were at opposite ends of the pitch as the game kicked off and it was our man who had the first opportunity of picking the ball from the back of his net after only three minutes. Andy Dow’s shot deflected off Tony Thomas to start the ball rolling. Winters scored the second five minutes later and it looked like we were in more trouble when Doesburg was replaced by Craigan.
Spencer made it 1-2 as we began to overrun the Aberdeen defence and the striker came close to an equaliser after fine supply work from Nevin. A breakaway led to the Dons’ third goal and eventually Winters converted the rebound when Mayer’s shot hit the postLeighton denied Brannan before a volley from Jess made the score 1-4. A few ‘Well fans drifted to the exit; a decision they would regret! Don Goodman gave us hope when he pounced on a half clearance from Nevin’s corner and we reached the break only two behind.
On the hour we lost another from looked like an offside position. Winters raced on to a defence splitting pass and beat Goram for his hat trick. Our protests were ignored and the scoreboard showed 2-5.
Spencer scored with twenty minutes left but Bernard beat Goram and for the sixth time he had to pick the ball from the net. A header from Spencer gave him a hat trick before we were awarded a penalty in 79 minutes when Dow handled. Teale converted and we had ten minutes to find an equaliser. Alas, it never arrived. The Dons held on and duly celebrated their win.
Both sides were cheered from the park for their efforts. The game was full of defensive errors but it provided a hugely entertaining 90 minutes. We were to sign Benito Kemble and Paul Harvey the next day.
Motherwell 5 Aberdeen 6
Wednesday 20 October 1999
Motherwell: Goram, Doesburg (Craigan 10), Teale, Thomas, Nevin (Halliday 69), Brannan, Valakari, Townsley (Twaddle 69), McMillan, Spencer, Goodman. Subs not used: Nicholas, Brown. Booked: Spencer, Goram.
Aberdeen: Leighton, Lilley, Solberg, Anderson, McAllister, Kiriakov (Gillies 45), Mayer, Bernard, Dow, Jess, Winters. Subs not used: Perry, Hamilton, Buchan, Esson. Booked: Solberg, McAllister, Dow.
Referee: Douglas MacDonald