We were a yard short all over the pitch as the home side took their chances. To cap a terrible afternoon Lasley collected a red card in the closing minutes.
We made three changes from the last outing. Ripley was back in goal and Laing stood in for Law at right back. Pearson returned with Cadden rested after his Hampden heroics.
We kicked off onto the stiff breeze from the beach end and promptly gave Aberdeen an early penalty gift when Laing and Hayes collided at the dead ball line. Referee Madden pointed to the spot and McLean converted .
A twenty minute spell followed with no action in either box. Ainsworth had our only attempt of the half following a corner but his 24 yard shot was comfortably collected by Collin.
Aberdeen scored their second after 25 minutes when a cut back from Logan was met by McGinn. They had two chances and made the best of them. We were fortunate not to concede as half time arrived. McGinn missed at the far post as the ball ran invitingly across our six yard box.
Lang remained in the dressing room at the interval and Hall joined the defence. We made more of the opening minutes and there was a fine move involving Johnson, Moult and McDonald but no end product. In 54 minutes Ripley was unlucky to see the ball fall to Rooney after a great save and the striker had an easy finish. 0-3
Cadden replaced Ainsworth on the hour and we got more involved. The reward came when the substitute got our consolation thanks to Johnson's assist.
We had a chance to close he gap to a single goal when a McDonald pass let Moult beat the offside trap. The 'keeper ushered him wide and his shot to the far post just missed the target.
Any hope of a turnaround ended when Hayes ran forty yards on his left wing. With defenders trailing in his wake he entered the box and saw his shot come off Ripley and into the net.
To complete our misery Lasley was red carded after a hefty challenge the might have merited a yellow. Protests followed and Robnson was sent to the stand.
We drop to fifth and will have to produce a better show against St Johnstone next week if we are to recover.
Aberdeen 4 Motherwell 1
Attendance 10,259
Team: Ripley, Hammell, Laing (Hall 45), McManus, Kennedy, Ainsworth (Cadden 61) Pearson, Johnstone, Lasley, Moult, McDonald