Jesper Karlsson lets rip to scoreSNS

Jesper Karlsson hasn't scored since his double against Dundee at the start of October

At a glance

  • Motherwell and Aberdeen share the points at Pittodrie

  • Jesper Karlsson puts the Dons ahead but Elijah Just responds quickly for the visitors

  • Both sides remain exactly where they were in the league, sixth for Motherwell and eighth for Aberdeen

Andrew Petrie
BBC Sport Scotland

Motherwell bounced back from their Hampden Premier Sports Cup disappointment to salvage a deserved draw against Aberdeen to make it three unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership.

The visitors, who were beaten 4-1 by St Mirren in the semi-finals last Saturday, scored a quick-thinking corner to conjure a rapid reply at Pittodrie after Jesper Karlsson's second-half rocket put Aberdeen ahead against the run of play.

It took just three minutes for Motherwell to find the response. Callum Slattery whipped in a low corner to Elijah Just to tap in at the front post while Aberdeen still set up to defend.

Jens Berthel Askou might have been disappointed not to take more away from the game, as his side dominated possession yet again, but the quality of chances was arguably level for both teams.

If anything, Aberdeen had a better opportunity to score another when Marko Lazetic passed up a glaring shot that would have opened the scoring.

Karlsson delivered a superb free-kick, Lazetic beat the offside trap, and swept his volley wide when unmarked, 10 yards out, and in the centre of the goal.

Analysis: Lack of cutting edge affects both sides

It felt like a game that Motherwell dominated, but they found goal-scoring opportunities hard to come by throughout - an affliction which has occasionally plagued them this season.

They have scored in 10 out of 11 league games, but their eye-catching build-up play always suggests they should be able to create more.

They had 25 touches in the opposition box and 71 entries into the final third. Big chances? Just the one.

Aberdeen, by comparison, had 11 touches in the opposition box and 34 final third entries. Big chances? Also just one, and it wasn't even the goal.

Even Motherwell's goal came from a moment of genius, rather than an intricate move. Think Trent Alexander-Arnold crossing to Divock Origi against Barcelona in 2019 - voted Liverpool's best-ever goal by the fans.

Maybe this one won't be quite as memorable, right enough.

Either way, it will go down as another game in which Motherwell had their opposition camped on the edge of their own box, controlled the ball, the tempo and the possession stats, but failed to win.

Attacking stats between Aberdeen and MotherwellOpta

Attacking stats between Aberdeen and Motherwell

You get the feeling Aberdeen might be a little happier with that. They struggled to get to grips with Motherwell at the start of both halves and generally looked sloppy on the ball.

At times, it felt the tactical plan was "launch it towards Lazetic and hope it bounces to Karlsson". The Sweden international has shouldered a heavy burden as the sole fulcrum of the Aberdeen attack.

That has weighed on him since his player of the match display in the 4-0 win against Dundee, but we saw another glimpse of his quality when he lasered one in from 20 yards out.

What they said

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin: "The first half, we are not there with our front-footed approach. We let them play between the lines too easy. They didn't create too many chances but they had a lot of the ball by dropping players and trying to push us up.

"Second half, we did better and started creating more chances. Still, they were good in transitions, but the big chances were quite equal in the game."

Motherwell manager Jens Berthel Askou: "It was probably the performance of the three [games against Aberdeen] where we were most dominant, in most control, throughout the game.

"We lacked a little bit of sharpness to convert the dominance into open, clear-cut chances, and that's the most disappointing thing because the performance was really solid."

What's next?

Aberdeen's next game comes against Hearts at Pittodrie on Sunday 23 November, while Motherwell travel to Kilmarnock the day before on Saturday 22 November (both 15:00 GMT).

Player of the match

D. Lobban
7.37
38 D. Lobban
7.37
22 J. Milne
7.24
17 J. Karlsson
7.20
2 N. Devlin
7.11
1 D. Mitov
6.80
5 M. Knoester
6.18
8 D. Polvara
6.17
21 G. Molloy
6.00
7 A. Aouchiche
5.87
16 S. Armstrong
5.64
15 K. Nisbet
5.53
27 M. Lazetić
5.29
10 L. Clarkson
5.25
81 T. Keskinen
5.00
4 G. Shinnie
4.81
77 E. Gyamfi
4.00
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