Frustrated Aberdeen boss Stephen Glass has demanded defenders cut out costly mistakes after more rear-guard misery.
The Dons crashed to a 2-0 home loss to Motherwell who netted both goals in a 10 minute second half blitz.
Straight-talking Glass offered no excuses and admits Aberdeen got what they deserved for the defensive calamities – nothing.
Glass called out the Dons for ‘poor defending, poor awareness and poor willingness not to get beat’.
The Dons gaffer thought his side had wiped out those defensive blunders after a resurgence in form with seven points from a triple header against Hearts, Rangers and Hibs.
However the mistakes returned with a vengeance as Kevin van Veen netted twice in a defeat that sent the Dons plummeting back into the Premiership’s bottom six.
Glass said: “There is a group that switches off in a a situation that could be quite easily resolved.
“The most frustrating part is we thought we had left that behind.
“But it lingers in the background and it needs to be eradicated and it needs to stay away.
“Or that performance in the second half is what you are going to get as a result because you end up chasing games you shouldn’t be chasing.
“It’s what was happening previously so of course it’s a massive frustration.
“It was two of the softest goals you’re likely to see.
“There’s more than one individual error within them.
“It is switching off, it’s not reacting right.
“It’s poor defending and poor awareness and it’s poor willingness not to get beat, pure and simple.
“We allowed Motherwell to come into a game they weren’t in.
“When you switch off players get opportunities to score goals and that’s what happened.
“We paid the price.
“We are not looking for excuses and got what we deserved.”
‘It’s a setback as we’re looking to build’
Aberdeen had hauled themselves out of a 10 game winless run in recent weeks by defeating Hearts and Hibs and drawing away at Premiership leaders Rangers.
After building positive momentum after that negative run Glass accepts it is a set-back to slump back into losing ways – and the bottom six.
He said: “I feel like the team showed they’ve got something about them in the last few weeks.
“We were poor in the second half and paid the price.
“It’s a setback as we’re looking to build.
“We don’t want to step backwards at any point.
“You’ve got to kill games when you’re on top and we didn’t do that in the first half and we paid the price.
“It’s a setback because it’s three points we’ve left behind and Motherwell have jumped ahead of us with three points.
“If we do the professional thing in the second half, I think we come out winning but we didn’t so we didn’t deserve to win.”
Aberdeen paid a costly price yet again
Aberdeen are in the midst of a defensive injury crisis with Calvin Ramsay, Jack MacKenzie, Declan Gallagher, Andy Considine and Mikey Devlin all out.
However Glass refused to make excuses. Aberdeen had Scotland international David Bates, captain Scott Brown and Scotland U21 cap Ross McCrorie as the three centre-halves.
Yet for the second time this season Aberdeen lost in the Premiership to Motherwell despite dominating possession.
Aberdeen now have almost two weeks to work out their defensive problems due to the international break before facing Dundee United away on their return.
Glass said: “When you don’t put the game to bed when you’ve got the opportunity, you’re liable to pay the price against teams that come and be hard to beat.
“You give them opportunities to score goals for free, you’ve got what’s coming to you.”
Motherwell netted in the 50th minute through van Veen who was left unmarked and punished the Dons.
He did the same seven minutes later to put the visitors 2-0 up and force Aberdeen to chase the game.
Glass said: “There were a couple of situations where we didn’t defend well atall in the second half and Motherwell then have something to hold on to.
“They are a resilient side.
“When they have a 2-0 goal lead or even a one goal lead you know what they are going to do.
“They are going to be tough to play against.
“We didn’t do enough to stop them scoring.”