No more Goodwin goodwill as shaky Dons flop

HEAT ON IRISHMAN AFTER DEFEAT BY MOTHERWELL

CONSIDER the honeymoon over then. Other than a largely expected defeat at Celtic Park, everything had been going well for manager Jim Goodwin and his revamped Aberdeen side this season. Until Motherwell and their new gaffer Stevie Hammell pitched up in town.

The Dons’ group in the Premier Sports Cup had been a breeze. There was a huge sense of positivity over last weekend’s 4-1 win over St Mirren, even though they only really performed in patches and spent most of the game up against ten men.

Fast forward, then, to the end of play after six minutes of time added-on yesterday, with a 14,000plus crowd booing the team off the park. With good reason. Aberdeen could easily have conceded four or five in this encounter.

As it was, the three goals a more attack-minded Motherwell scored left major questions over the solidity of the Reds at the back — with new captain Anthony Stewart having a torrid afternoon. Quite frankly, the home side looked disorganised and open to being sprung at almost any minute.

And that spells bad news for Goodwin, whose commitment to organisation was seen as a real strong point in among all the quick, attacking players he drafted in during the summer.

He has won just three league games out of 15 now since taking over at Pittodrie in February and that is going to become more and more of an issue unless these players start clicking quickly.

Aberdeen just weren’t at it here. Not at any point, really. They went in front early in the second period after efforts from Bojan Miovski and Jonny Hayes had eked out an advantage after an opener from Blair Spittal.

However, within an instant, two goals in three minutes from Callum Slattery and Kevin Van Veen, adding to the four goals he scored while haunting Aberdeen last term, had turned everything upside-down.

‘We were really poor on the day and when you have performances like that, you have just got to hold your hands up and say the best team won,’ said Goodwin.

‘We started extremely sloppy, cheap turnovers, passing the ball out of the pitch without any real pressure. Motherwell fed off that.

‘We cannot have too many days like today. That’s for sure. We will take the criticism that comes our way. There have been a lot of plaudits lately. Today, we weren’t at it.’

Miovski missed the opportunity to offer Aberdeen some breathing space 11 minutes in when Bevis Mugabi had attempted to play a simple pass to Sondre Solholm Johansen — only for the Norwegian to lose his footing. Miovski raced clear to leave himself one-on-one with keeper Liam Kelly, but his clipped effort went just too high.

That should have sparked the home side into life, but the opener for the visitors arrived on 20 minutes. Connor Shields got the better of Liam Scales down the right and delivered an excellent ball into the area.

Jayden Richardson slipped and that afforded Spittal the opportunity to take aim. His first-time connection wasn’t exactly clinical, but he still did enough to direct it between keeper Kelle Roos and the near post.

Sean Goss came desperately close to making it 2-0 with ten minutes of the opening period to play when seeing a low drive deflected just wide and it has to be said that Aberdeen’s leveller through Miovski came completely out of the blue.

Scales swung a magnificent, inviting ball in from the left flank and the North Macedonian striker’s angled run set him up perfectly to send a glancing header home.

When Hayes pounced at the beginning of the second period, it looked like everything would work out all right in the end for Goodwin’s side.

Richardson possesses some electrifying speed up the right, but the jury remains out on the consistency of the end product. This time, though, he delivered.

Having reached the bye-line, he fed the ball inside to Hayes directly in front of goal. The Irishman’s first effort was blocked, but he reacted quickly to poke the rebound high into the net.

The platform was there for Aberdeen to complete the victory. Yet within five minutes, they had conceded. Goss delivered a searching corner from the left and Slattery arrived right on time to poke it home from close in.

Soon, the Steelmen were back in front. From the home side’s perspective, it was an absolute shocker of a goal to lose.

Slattery sent Spittal clean through with a simple, well-judged pass that caught Aberdeen square. The former Partick Thistle man sent his effort crashing off the bar with Roos advancing to narrow the angle, but the ball fell perfectly for Van Veen and he headed home with ease.

In truth, the Dutchman should have made it four on 79 minutes. Fine interplay involving substitutes Ross Tierney and Josh Morris saw the ball slipped into his path directly in front of goal. Roos saved from point-blank range, though, and Tierney screwed the rebound wide.

Tierney had another late chance after Aberdeen had lost the ball in their own territory, seeing a closerange shot deflected just wide. It mattered not. The Dons’ goose was cooked and the heat is back on those at the top of the club.

ABERDEEN (4-2-3-1)): Roos; Richardson, Stewart, McCrorie, Scales; Ramadani, Clarkson (MacKenzie 67); Kennedy (Morris 30), Besuijen, Hayes (Lopes 75); Miovski. Subs (not used): Lewis, Watkins, Polvara, Duncan, Milne, Ramirez. Booked: MacKenzie.

MOTHERWELL (4-4-2): Kelly; McGinn, Mugabi,

Solholm Johansen, O’Donnell; Slattery (Maguire 74), Goss, Cornelius (Tierney 75), Spittal (Efford 62); Van Veen, Shields (Morris 74).

Subs (not used): Oxborough, Ojala, Johnston, Mahon, Spiers. Booked: Slattery, Morris.

Referee: Chris Graham. Attendance: 14,714.