Aberdeen fans have praised their team’s showing after the Dons made a much-needed return to winning ways at Motherwell to climb the Premiership table – although late goals conceded left some supporters irritated.
The final 4-2 scoreline at Fir Park did not tell the full story of Barry Robson’s side’s comprehensive victory.
Two sloppy goals conceded late on will be a frustration, however, ultimately it was mission accomplished in Lanarkshire after the gut-wrenching 3-2 Europa Conference League defeat to PAOK at Pittodrie and then a pretty dismal showing in losing 2-0 at Kilmarnock on Sunday.
The win over Motherwell means Robson’s side now go into Saturday’s Viaplay Cup semi-final with Hibs on a high, with a trip to Greece to face PAOK on Thursday also on the horizon and then a league trip to champions Celtic next weekend.
At full-time after the victory at Well, several Aberdeen supporters took to social media to hail the improvement in the Dons’ performance.
The Dons were panned for an overly-direct approach which only yielded one shot on target at Killie.
But after the win over Well, Nev Smith said: “Well done Aberdeen great team work – and Barry, great tactics.”
Highlighting the change in approach which helped produce an improved footballing display, @Glen1903 added: “Amazing how much better we are from playing the ball on the deck, getting our midfield involved, and getting the ball into the box quickly. Who’d have thought?”
This fan expressed similar sentiments:
See what happens when you play football on the deck? What a difference from Sunday . 3 points, up the Road. Roll on Saturday 🔴🇦🇹🐑🏆
— Mikey B 🇦🇹 (@MikeyBoy025) November 1, 2023
While the likes of double goalscorer McGrath, main man Bojan Miovski, right-back Devlin and a rejuvenated Leighton Clarkson impressed on Wednesday night, Dons fans were particularly pleased to see last season’s talisman Duk among the goals.
The Cape Verde international has looked off the pace in games this season, but his header to make it 4-0 had many supporters hoping it will be the moment to kick-start his campaign.
Jason Herron wasn’t the only member of the Red Army to write a post about Duk along the lines of “he’s back”:
HE'S BACK 😍🔥
— Jasee (@JasonHerron17) November 1, 2023
Two late Well goals irritate fans
A lot of the fans posting at full-time did express frustration a game where it looked like Aberdeen were nailed-on for a clean sheet ended with them letting in two late goals – with keeper Kelle Roos and then defender Slobodan Rubezic playing their part in the two Steelmen consolations.
The common theme of the responses below is the need for tightening up at the back.
Stuart Lawson, who also demanded better game management from his team, said: “Great result – would have taken that score two hours ago for sure.
“But… we can’t keep conceding cheap goals because all it shows is that we can’t manage a game very well.
“Had we shown better game management against PAOK we would be flying.
“Fortunate that we had enough goals in the bank tonight to cover over the frailties.
“Great to get the win, though!”
Bazzared said: “If it was Fergie (legendary boss Sir Alex Ferguson), he’d be absolutely raging about how we finished that game. The four goals before wouldn’t have mattered.”
@krisslives added: “10 games out of 17 this season we’ve conceded 2 or more goals. Not good enough.”
Tighten that defence up and stop letting the goals in and we are on to something got sloppy after the 4 but fantastic display 👏
— Dandy 🐑 (@marcio123k) November 1, 2023
Hampden calling on Saturday
It wasn’t the perfect night in the end for Aberdeen against Motherwell at Fir Park, but it was a marked improvement on their previous outing at Killie – and has certainly lifted the mood.
@TartanTroot got to the heart of the matter when they suggested the the timing of Wednesday’s goalscoring showing couldn’t have been better – not with a place in a national cup final on the line come the weekend trip to Hampden to face Hibs.
Short and to the point, they said: “Exactly what we needed ahead of the semi-final.”
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