Ten man Motherwell fall to 2-0 defeat at Aberdeen

It was a fairly flat performance from the Steelmen who only really troubled the Aberdeen goal on one occasion but the games major talking points came from a series of strange and poor decisions by referee Craig Napier.

The home side had the visitors pinned back in the opening stages where Declan Gallagher was booked for a poor challenge on Lewis Ferguson after just five minutes to leave the Well skipper with an awkward afternoon ahead.

The first chance came for Aberdeen’s Ryan Hedges who made space for himself on the edge of the box and flashed a shot wide of the far post on 12 minutes.

Just two minutes later the Dons took the lead in disappointing fashion from a Well point of view as a Matty Kennedy’s free kick from midway in the half was met by Tommie Hoban who rose highest to head in to the far corner leaving Liam Kelly with no chance.

Hedges flashed another shot wide from the edge of the area after good interplay with Scott Wirght as the Dons continued to push before Well were left ruing the poor refereeing decision of the afternoon.

The Steelmen should have had a penalty on 20 minutes when Sherwin Seedorf’s shot from 12 yards was blocked by a sliding Funso Ojo as the rebound clearly hit off the Aberdeen midfielder’s hand.

One minute later the Steelmen had their only clear cut chance of the game when they were inches away from an equaliser after a great run by Tony Watt saw the striker get a shot away from 20 yards which came back off the post and in to the arms of Dons keeper Joe Lewis.

It looked like luck wasn’t on their side but the poor refereeing decisions soon levelled out as Well were probably lucky not to be reduced to ten men on 25 minutes.

A coming together between Liam Polworth and Scott Wright ended with the Well player swinging an elbow in the direction of the Dons’ attacker.

Referee Craig Napier either didn’t see the lash out from Polworth or didn’t deem it worthy of a red but, after the resulting stramash, Polowrth was shown yellow along with Wright and Ojo who also got involved.

After that the remaining 20 minutes of the half came and wen’t without much incident with the sides trading possession without ever testing either keeper.

Graham Alexander opted to make a half time change to help find a way back in to the game with Chris Long on for Sherwin Seedorf.

Having had a lucky escape in the first half Liam Polworth did eventually find himself heading for an early bath.

After a fairly innocuous coming together with Lewis Ferguson the Well player seemed upset about something and whatever he said to Napier was enough for the ref to show him a straight red.

New signing Harry Smith made his debut off the bench on 55 minutes when he replaced Tony Watt as Graham Alexander reacted to losing Polworth.

After attempting twice from distance in the first half Ryan Hedges came close again from the edge of the box this time with a low drive that went just wide of Kelly’s right hand post.

Kelly kept his side in the game in the next five minutes with two great saves, first closing down a Wright burst in to the box and blocking the shot from close range then diving at full stretch to block away a Ferguson header shortly after.

The QPR loanee was being kept busy and on 65 minutes made a another good save this time to deny Kennedy from distance.

Another dodgy refereeing decision followed from the resulting corner when Taylor headed in Kennedy’s delivery from a short worked routine with Hedges but it was disallowed with the Dons centre half being adjudged to have pushed Devante Cole when in reality there was very little in it.

The home side did finish the game off on 76 minutes though when another short corner between Hedges and Kennedy saw the latter get a shot away from the edge of the area which ricoched around in the crowded area and fell to Andy Considine at six yards who took a touch and neatly slid it under Kelly from close range.

Kelly prevented it from going 3-0 shortly after that when he came rushing off his line and made himself big to get enough on a touch on a Sam Cosgrove effort to take the danger out of the shot.

A double change for the visitors on 82 minutes saw Nathan McGinley and Jake Hastie replace Jake Carroll and Devante Cole but the game was already gone and all that was left was for Kelly to make one more diving save to deny Kennedy from distance again.

Two poor goals to concede from Motherwell’s point of view and frustration at the irrational decision making of Liam Polworth in a match with very few highlights for the visitors that the Steelmen supporters will want to forget in a hurry.

They will however have the chance to put things immediately right on Wednesday night in the Highlands as they head to Ross County.

The Staggies will be smarting themselves though after also having a bad day at the office as the lost 5-0 to Rangers at Ibrox.

A big match for sure with just one point separating the sides in tenth and 11th place.