Stevie Hammell’s hamstring pull prevented him from passing a late fitness test and Steven Saunders was included in the opening line up. Hateley showed his versatility by filling in at left back.
The visitors made no secret of their limited ambition by fielding five defenders in the back line and as a result the contest never took off. The overwhelming pattern of play was Motherwell trying all they knew to penetrate the ranks of white shirted Dons’ defenders. Time and time again we had time to pass the ball around and across the halfway line as the visitors waited to repulse another threat.
When our forward play lost out they would hoof the ball up the park and we would collect and build again. Walter Smith has a lot to answer for!
Murphy scored our goal ten minutes before the break when he latched on to Blackman’s pass on the left of the box. He escaped the attentions of Ifel and fired low through Langfield’s legs. The lead we deserved and it seemed obvious that Aberdeen would have to make an attempt to compete. They had their chance when their ‘keeper punted a high ball into our half. Reynolds’ header was mistimed and Vernon found himself with only Randolph to beat but his attempt was yards wide. Jennings came close to doubling the lead with the break fast approaching. His 25 yard effort had Langfield beaten but the dip took the ball over the bar.
The Dons stuck to their stuffy formation for the entire game and they equalised ten minutes into the second period. Following a corned at the South Stand end we had several chances to clear but could manage only to put the ball out of play for a throw. They got possession at the bye line and Maguire managed to squirt a low ball across the face of our goal. Vernon had an easy tap in, although he nearly messed up as the ball struck the post on the way into the net.
The visitors retreated into their shell again and we kept pegging away. Humphrey saw lots of the ball but the final delivery was not good enough. Brown make three changes in the final 20 minutes Gow, McHugh and Forbes replacing Blackman, Humphrey and Sutton.
Hateley hits the wall with this effort
We had two chances to win the game. The first came when some Murphy magic resulted in him with the ball at his feet at the edge of the six yard box close to the dead ball line. He tried an ambition curler to the far corner when a better option was to feed Gow at the back post. For the second, Gow was the provider. He delivered a perfect cross and it seemed that Jennings had only to get a decent headed contact to score. Unfortunately he glanced at the ball and it missed the target.
Lasley had another fine game as did his midfield partner, Jennings, who was unfortunate to be the only booking of the game in added time. The Dons negative tactics paid off and they got what they planned. We should feel disappointed that an opportunity to take all three points was missed.