Motherwell 3-0 Aberdeen: Dons punished for mistakes by ruthless Steelmen

A haphazard display from Aberdeen was ruthlessly punished by a clinical Motherwell at Fir Park.

The Dons came into the game on a four-game winning streak but had a huge hand in gifting their hosts all three points.

A slack Niall McGinn pass and failed clearances from Stevie May and Lewis Ferguson were all seized upon.

Danny Johnson grabbed a brace before David Turnbull secured Motherwell their second home win of the season.

Aberdeen showed little attacking threat after going behind and in truth the margin of victory could have been even more for Stephen Robinson's side.

Motherwell remain ninth despite the victory, while Aberdeen stay in sixth.

• 'Awful' Dons have work to do for cup final - McInnes

False start from visitors

Motherwell went into this one without first-choice goalkeeper Trevor Carson after it was confirmed on Friday the Northern Ireland international had developed deep vein thrombosis.

Aberdeen wasted no time in testing replacement keeper Mark Gillespie after only four minutes but he batted away May's shot. Graeme Shinnie then pulled a shot well wide.

However, the game would soon get away from them. A McGinn misplaced pass was to prove costly for the opening goal after 25 minutes, Johnson collected in his own half and raced to the edge of the box before turning Shay Logan inside out and curling the ball past Joe Lewis.

Motherwell extended their lead on 30 minutes, Johnson with a close-range header after Gael Bigrimana's corner had been helped on by Main who put off May at the front post.

Aberdeen's hopes of a second-half comeback were dashed when once again poor defending presented Turnbull with a chance. Lewis Ferguson's attempted clearance slammed off Andrew Consideine only for Turnbull to turn in the rebound.

'Motherwell performance should not be overlooked'

Arguably this game changed on one misplaced pass when McGinn found his attempted cross-field pass intercepted. The energy and skill displayed by Johnson to turn that into the opening goal flooded Motherwell with belief and and set the home side on the path to victory.

While Aberdeen were arguably unlucky to be two goals down at half-time their second half performance was below par and after the loss of the third goal they looked a beaten team with 36 minutes still to play.

The focus may fall on Aberdeen given that they play in a cup final next Sunday but that should not overshadow the performance of Motherwell, with possibly their finest showing of the season.

'We took responsibility today' - reaction

Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson on Sportsound: "Pleased with it. I still think we can improve on it.

"A terrific reaction to the last result [a 7-1 loss at Rangers]. I wanted us to take responsibility and not get into a blame game about referees and decisions.

"We battled and were very well organised and we showed a heck of a lot of quality today and with some young players in the team.

"We've had three wins out of four now and three clean sheets. We have to start looking up the table and be really positive."