Motherwell are on the ropes. Can Hearts find a punch to wobble their legs?

More literally, can Alex Cochrane find a Hearts player when he cuts the ball back from the byline? No, he cannot.

Motherwell are riding their luck now. Lawrence Shankland drives into the box but he can't pull the trigger.

In the aftermath, Cammy Devlin halves wee Lennon Miller and Dan Casey reacts angrily. The little Aussie and the big Irishman are booked.

Tyrone Smith
BBC Scotland at Pittodrie

Duk has been giving Lewis Miller a hard time down the left. That looks like the most the promising outlet for much improved Aberdeen.

Paul McGinn is off! Having already been booked in the first-half, he gets into a fankle with Liam Boyce and pulls the Northern Irishman to the deck.

Off goes the experienced defender... It's going to be a long 20 minutes plus change for Motherwell now.

Now Hibs go to the bench. Adam Le Fondre is on and Josh Campbell makes way.

The visitors' attack could do with a proper figure head up top.

Motherwell are hanging on here. Lawrence Shankland's poor ball in isn't well cleared. Cammy Devlin lays it back to Liam Boyce and his goal-bound effort is deflected over by Bevis Mugabi. That wasn't far away.

Hearts are knocking on the door here. Maybe more of a polite chap, but it is a knock. The problem for Steven Naismith et al is that they just do not look like scoring.

Nathaniel Atkinson has been the brightest spark for Hearts. He's creating everything from right-back.

David Marshall rolls back the years.

James McGarry's shot deflects high into the air and Hibs' veteran goalkeeper leaps to his right to turn it away.

Memories of Serbia.

Martin Boyle goes through after Lewis Stevenson leads a Hibs break. He takes too long to make up his mind and is crowded out by retreating Aberdeen defenders and it turns out the Hibs man was offside anyway.

Leighton Clarkson replaces Connor Barron for the home side. Can he provide a spark?

Ester Sokler is also on for the Dons, replacing injured half-time substitute Shayden Morris.

Hearts have had the better of the second-half chances and it's Lawrence Shankland whose gone close this time. Again, Nathaniel Atkinson is the creator. He drives into the box, Shankland picks up the scraps, but his shot is deflected over.

The corner is poorly worked and the pressure lifts.

Duk is scampering away on the Aberdeen left and goes down under Lewis Miller's challenge.

The referee David Munro points at something but not the spot. A VAR check ensues. Goal kick.

Duk can't believe it.

Looked rather dive-ish from here...

Elie Youan makes progress into the Aberdeen box, with four defenders backing off. He has options to his right but shoots. Wide. Unhappy team-mates is the end result.

Bojan Miovski heads Nicky Devlin's cross over. Aberdeen really must do more to try and give goalkeeper David Marshall something to think about.

Nathaniel Atkinson does brilliantly to turn under pressure and curl an inviting cross onto the head of Kyosuke Tagawa - only for the Hearts substitute to head over from close range.

A big opportunity to level.

Hibs midfielder Joe Newell tries to bend a bouncing ball into the right-hand corner with the outside of his trusty left foot but the fierce shot fizzes narrowly wide.

Blair Spittal, how have you not scored?! Some more brilliant Motherwell build-up sees Theo Bair tee up Spittal... And he puts it wide from eight yards out.

That's some miss. Will it come back to bite Motherwell?

Aberdeen also make a change for the second half, with Shayden Morris replacing Slobodan Rubezic.

Not a huge surprise, Rubezic really struggled up against the pace of Hibs' Elie Youan.

Hearts turn to Toby Sibbick and Kyosuke Tagawa, with Yutaro Oda and Alex Lowry hooked.

And immediately there's a chance for Hearts as Lawrence Shankland is played in behind... He lets the ball bounce and Motherwell clear.

We're up and running again at Tynecastle and the teams are back out at Pittodrie.