Aberdeen 3, Motherwell 3: Steelmen need extra grit, says frustrated boss

Stuart Kettlewell says Motherwell need to find an extra grit and determination to turn draws into wins after seeing a three-goal slip against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

Motherwell made a lightning fast start at Pittodrie last night, with Theo Bair scoring the first of a double in four minutes from the spot after Shayden Morris had brought Georgie Gent down inside the box.

Bair doubled his and Motherwell’s lead in 22 minutes, tappng home Gent’s cross from close range, and Adam Devine put them into a seemingly unassailable lead four minutes later, reacting fastest to net after Blair Spittal’s shot had been blocked.

Aberdeen boss Neil Warnock rang the changes, replacing Morris and Dante Polvara with Duk and defender Angus MacDonald.

Duk’s first touch of the ball was to steer it past Liam Kelly to pull the Dons back into the game, and when the Scotland keeper saved from Nicky Devlin’s header, Stefan Gartenmann was on hand to reduce the deficit to just one.

Leighton Clarkson, twice, and MacDonald threatened for Aberdeen before the drew level in 50 minutes when Duk outmuscled Devine to reach Graeme Shinnie’s cross and plant a header into the bottom left corner.

Aberdeen thought they had taken the lead, only for Bojan Miovski’s close-range shot ruled out for offside, though the striker didn’t argue his case.

Gartenmann hit the crossbar with a header, but Motherwell came back into the game and thought they had taken the lead through Harry Paton in 80 minutes, only for it to be ruled out for a foul following a lengthy VAR check.

Boss Kettlewell said: “I’m really frustrated.

“So many things happened that I enjoyed; we get three up and put ourselves in an unbelievable position, but we showed far too much naivety when Aberdeen made