A much weakened Motherwell side were well beaten at Pittodrie. A consolation penalty was more than we deserved.
Stevie Hammell’s team selection underlined the selection difficulties caused by a growing injury list. He fielded a back five consisting of Ricki Lamie in the centre flanked by two full backs on both his left and right.
After an early flurry that earned a corner seconds after the kick off, the pattern of the game was established. Aberdeen pushed forward and pinned the visitors back in defence. Motherwell could only launch upfield to Jon Obika and hope. That tactic delivered no shots on target.
The travellings fans had a moment of hope following a nasty head clash between Johnston and Hayes. The game resumed with a ‘Well free kick that O’Donnell whipped across the face of goal but the forwards made no connection.
Aberdeen had seven corners before the break and the last of them broke the deadlock. Hayes delivered to the far post and Duk headed into the net. The only surprise was that ithe goal took so long to arrive.
Hammell made the first of six substitutions ten minutes into the second half. Some might argue that there was a slight improvement in Motherwell’s performance but Callum Slattery made a costly mistake in losing possession in 65 minutes and within seconds the ball was in the net as Miovski celebrated.
The striker added his team’s third three minutes later as the static defence was split.
A rare Motherwell charge into the home box seemed to have petered out but the VAR official spotted a hand ball offence to give van Veen the consolation goal from the penalty spot.
There was nothing on show to offer Motherwell fans any encouragement that a revival is on the way.
Aberdeen 3 Motherwell 1
Attendance
Team: Kelly, McGinn, Johnston, Lamie (Slattery 62),O’Donnell, Goss (McKinstry 53), Furlong, Spittall (Tierney 70), Aitchison (Crankshaw) Cornelius), (Danzaki 70), Obika(Van Veen 55)
Saturday 4 February 2023