Aberdeen’s victory over Motherwell was as good performance as the Dons have produced this season.
The Reds were dominant at Fir Park and were comfortable 3-0 winners.
After one win in five prior to Saturday the display in Lanarkshire was the type we expect to see from Derek McInnes’ side.
The triumph also cut the gap between Aberdeen and the third-placed Steelmen to a point.
Going into the game looking at the form guide Motherwell were favourites.
But after the penalty save in the fifth minute Aberdeen didn’t give them a look in, it was all about the Dons from that point on.
Greg Leigh and Zak Vyner playing in midfield both did very well, the back four was solid and Joe Lewis made a magnificent save to keep out James Scott’s penalty and bail out Shay Logan after his short pass back led to the concession.
The three goals scored by Sam Cosgrove, Niall McGinn and Vyner were magnificent.
You’ll have to watch a lot of football to see three more spectacular goals than those.
The Dons had a solid base of a sound defence, with Leigh and Vyner disciplined in front of them and that allowed the front four to do what they do best.
McGinn has always had the quality to produce a goal like he did on Saturday.
Cosgrove just can’t stop scoring at the minute.
When he went through on goal everybody in the ground was waiting for the Englishman to put his foot through the ball.
Instead he dinked it over Mark Gillespie – it was a goal of the highest order.
Cosgrove is playing at a very high level and is oozing confidence.
The 22-year-old is such a key part of what Aberdeen do. He’s a physical presence, he leads the line well, his hold-up play is good and he scores goals, you can’t ask any more of a striker.
With these type of performances other clubs will be taking note.
Jon Gallagher also showed the energy and desire we’ve come to expect from him.
All round it was an excellent team performance from Aberdeen.
The Reds were playing against a side that have been free-flowing and had won five of their last six games.
Not to take away from other performances and results this season, but that is as good a performance as Aberdeen have produced, and in any of the last six seasons under McInnes it was a display that would rank right up among the Dons’ best.
It was also rewarding for the Red Army because in the last few weeks the results hadn’t been to the level they have expected, but Saturday’s performance was certainly something for everybody to get enthused about.
There have been grumblings from supporters in recent times. McInnes and his players knew they had to find an answer to some of the questions being asked about them and they did.
McInnes shuffled his pack and his team were organised defensively and looked a constant threat going forward.
Mikey Devlin seems to have benefited from being away with Scotland. He looked really good on Saturday and it seems like international experience has boosted his confidence.
Devlin looked as if he was enjoying it and his performance was dominant and assured.
That could go for the whole back five. Logan did give away the penalty, but he recovered well from it because an error like that can knock you out of your stride.
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