Motherwell battled hard but were unable to score and lost 1-0 to Aberdeen at sunny Pittodrie.
We lined up with three changes from the last outing. Sammon and Frear joined Johnson in the front line while Donnelly occupied the wide right defensive position with Tait his mirror on the left. Main, Cadden and Rose dropped out.
Aberdeen started on the front foot and had us pinned back in the opening minutes. Their reward came after six minutes when our bacl line on the 18 yard box was pierced by McGinn’s through pass. Wilson reacted before his marker and turned to take his chance of a placement to Carson’s left.
It was a sloppy goal to lose but we recovered well. Carson had little to do for the rest of the half and we make several attempts on the goal at the beach end. McHugh tried his luck from 24 yards and clipped the bar. Frear had a good penalty shout ignored by referee Walsh when Considine seemed to impede his forward run.
Stephen Robinson saw all three of his substitutes committed inside the firstb ten minutes of the second half. Cadden replaced Donnelly at the break then Bowman replaced Sammon. Hartley limped off as Turnbull came on to complete the shuffle.
Frear had an early shot on target as wwe set about levelling the game. It turned into a bit of a physical battle and we made little headway through the big Aberdeen defence.
Carson almost conceded after crazy fumble from a weak GMS shot but to his relief the ball trundled by the post for a corner. Another scare came from a breakaway when Anderson launch the ball into the stand with the goal gaping.
Cadden tested Lewis as the game drew to a close but the ‘keeper made a decent save to keep the home goal safe.
Not for the first time this season there is no complaint at the energy and effort from the men in claret and amber but we could not find a way through a resolute defence and we take nothing from the game.
Aberdeen 1 Motherwell 0
Attendance 14,027 (261)
Team: Carson, Tait, McHugh, Aldred, Hartley(Turnbull55), Donnelly(Cadden 45), Campbell, Bigirimana, Frear, Sammon(Bowman 53), Johnson
Saturday 22 September 2018