Aberdeen got here from behind to beat Motherwell 4-1 and and safe a top-six place within the Scottish Premiership.
Jimmy Thelin’s males began brightly solely to fall behind to a Callum Slattery header, however they turned the sport round in an entertaining first half at Pittodrie because of targets from Alfie Dorrington and Leighton Clarkson.
In-form striker Kevin Nisbet netted a second-half brace to offer the Dons a well-earned win.
Lacking goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov by way of damage, the Dons made three modifications from their draw with St Johnstone earlier than the worldwide break, whereas Properly confirmed two alterations from their tie with St Mirren.
The Dons began strongly, with Jeppe Okkels selecting out the run of Topi Keskinen after simply two minutes, however the Finnish winger may solely flash his effort vast of the close to submit.
The guests had barely ventured ahead within the opening 5 minutes, so it got here as a shock once they took the lead.
Harry Paton stood the ball up for Slattery to move residence the opener through the underside of the bar.
However that blow appeared to spur Aberdeen on they usually have been quickly degree.
Ellery Balcombe within the Motherwell objective denied Keskinen and from the ensuing nook the Steelmen couldn’t totally clear.
The ball fell to on-loan Tottenham defender Dorrington, who fired residence from simply inside the world through a deflection off Andy Halliday.
The Dons continued to press, with Balcombe turning a Nisbet effort across the submit earlier than denying the Scotland man once more only a minute later.
Motherwell misplaced defender Liam Gordon to damage halfway by way of the half, changed by Kofi Balmer, and the sport settled a bit of.
Nonetheless, the house aspect nonetheless appeared the extra vigorous and Clarkson noticed his whipped ball in from the left evade Pape Habib Gueye however nearly sneak in on the again submit, Balcombe throwing himself throughout objective late to show it behind.
A brief nook routine adopted, with Clarkson this time whipping a shot goalwards, throughout the helpless ‘keeper and contained in the far submit from 20 yards.
Aberdeen’s Leighton Clarkson celebrates his objective towards Motherwell
And Aberdeen may have been additional forward by the interval as Okkels picked up on a Nisbet flick earlier than seeing a low shot overwhelmed away by Balcombe.
The Dons remained on high after the break, with Clarkson and Ante Palaversa having pictures blocked quickly after the restart.
Motherwell may have discovered a leveller when Slattery’s intelligent through-ball put Tom Sparrow by way of, however his effort flashed throughout the face of objective.
Again on the different finish Balcombe held effectively from Gueye as Aberdeen sought a 3rd and it lastly arrived after 77 minutes.
Full-back Alexander Jensen swung over a pleasant cross from the best and Nisbet rose to energy residence a back-post header.
And the Scotland man fired residence a stoppage-time strike from distance, the ball entering into off the underside of the bar, to finish an emphatic win for Aberdeen.
What the managers mentioned…
Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin mentioned: “It was a good performance, but the most important thing for me is the quality in the squad is growing and we have healthy competition.
“The gamers are taking extra accountability now by way of maintaining the stability of the crew and displaying their high quality when required.
“I was really happy with how we responded to losing the goal. The reaction was really strong with no stress and we did the things we wanted to do, with belief.
“We confirmed our supporters what we need to be by way of urgent and transitions. I appreciated what I noticed immediately.”
Motherwell boss Michael Wimmer said: “I believe we began effectively, the vitality was good after the whistle and we scored, however then we misplaced out to Aberdeen on possession.
“Aberdeen were better and for us I think it was luck to only be 2-1 down at half-time.
“We spoke about this at half-time, that we want extra possession and composure. If we win the ball we have to preserve the ball and I believe we did that actually for 20 minutes. We had plenty of possession after half-time, we had two probabilities.
“(At) 3-1 (that) was it for us and I was not happy after that, I had the feeling that after 3-1 we gave up. The spaces between the lines were too much and the reaction to mistakes was not OK.
“Will probably be an enormous studying for us, we are going to converse in regards to the final quarter-hour, however for me Aberdeen have been an excellent crew.”
