Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin felt his side’s off-colour performance was deservedly punished in their 3-2 defeat to Motherwell.
The Dons suffered their first home defeat of the season against a Well side, who were under the permanent management of Steven Hammell for the first time.
Well deservedly took a first-half lead through Blair Spittal, with Bojan Miovski restoring parity three minutes before half-time.
Jonny Hayes’ goal shortly after the break looked to have set the tone for a more encouraging second half, however quickfire goals from Callum Slattery and Kevin Van Veen took the points back to Fir Park.
Goodwin had no complaints about the outcome, insisting his side fell below par in their display.
He said: “I just think we were really poor on the day. When you have performances like that, you’ve just got to hold your hands up and say the best team won.
“We started extremely sloppy in terms of our possession, cheap turnovers. We were passing the ball out of the pitch on occasion, without any real pressure.
“I think Motherwell fed off that, and it gave them a little bit of a lift.
“We knew how they were going to set up. We knew they were going to sit off the game and try to hit us on the break which they did on a number of occasions.
“We deserved to go behind, because Motherwell were the better team. They deserved to go in front.
“I did think the goal was avoidable. The distances between the full back and the centre half were far too big, and we can maybe close that gap a little bit.
“We found ourselves getting back into the game with a really well-worked goal. It was a great ball in from Scales and a brilliant header from Miovski.
“I thought we were lucky to go in at half-time level-pegging.
“We hoped for a better performance in the second half and we couldn’t have wished to have got off a better start but the same issues that were there in the first half crept back in.
“We can’t have too many days like this, that’s for sure.”
The Dons faced further injury disruption throughout the match, with Matty Kennedy and Leighton Clarkson forced off with knocks.
Goodwin is hopeful neither injury is overly serious, adding: “We’ve not carried a lot of luck of late. Early in pre-season Barron and Mackenzie picked up serious injuries injuries, and last weekend Callum Roberts picked up a real serious one. It looks like it’s going to be about 10 weeks.
“Hayden Coulson thankfully won’t be out too long. We are going to try and push him next week to get him back among it.
“I haven’t had a moment to sit down with the physio yet to discuss the diagnosis is for the two players are but I’m hopeful it might just be a touch of cramp or a little bit of fatigue.
“The weather was very hot so hopefully that’s what it boils down to.”
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