Aberdeen v Motherwell: 'Nothing personal' as Kettlewell targets first win over Dons this season

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell says it’s nothing personal, but he’s eager to get a first win over Aberdeen this season when they head to Pittodrie today.

But the Fir Park gaffer says they must be mindful that they’re up against a good team that pushed champions Celtic close in their Scottish Cup semi-final before losing on penalties last weekend.

Motherwell threw away a three-goal lead to draw the last time they visited Pittodrie, and Kettlewell was left fuming with a 1-0 defeat at Fir Park, in which a Lennon Miller ‘goal’ was disallowed for a deflected hand-ball, while Graeme Shinnie escaped punishment for a similar offence inside his own box.

Kettlewell says he will make some minor changes to his side as they head into battle in the Granite City this weekend, in the hope of getting the points.

He said: “I don’t think we need to completely abandon any principles from our side of it.

“I’ve watched a fair bit of Aberdeen, we played them recently and in my mind there was a controversial game here where we had a goal chalked off, everybody knew my thoughts on that, and there was an incident with the last kick of the ball where we felt there was a hand-ball by Graeme Shinnie. That game was incredibly close.

“We got 3-0 ahead – that’s possibly the bit that sticks in my throat more than anything, at Pittodrie, and we started to go on the back foot, made or two poor decisions from re-starts in the game.

“It’s those minor adjustments, but what we need to be mindful of is that we’re playing against a good team.

“You watched them against Celtic at the weekend, and I thought they were excellent at times.

“They really got their game-plan right, I thought they carried a threat, they have some real quality, and it’s not just a