LOUIS Moult showed the Aberdeen fans why Derek McInnes tried to recruit him for the Dons in the summer. The Motherwell front man sank the hosts with a double that brought his scoring tally for the club to 50 as he and his team-mates sent a warning to Celtic that they will have a fight on their hands in the Betfred League Cup final at Hampden next Sunday.
Moult would have been wearing the red of Aberdeen yesterday had they gone the extra mile – or £100,000 in this case – to secure his transfer for £500,000, but the Steelmen are happier to have them in their ranks than the cash in the bank.
"Alan Burrows [Motherwell’s chief executive] came up to me and shook my hand,” Moult said. “He said 'well done for scoring 50 goals'. I knew I was close but didn't realise it was that close. I have played less than 100 games, so it's a good achievement and hopefully I can score plenty more.
"The fans have been great to me since I came here; they follow the club all over the place.”
The visitors were seldom worried by a lightweight home side who looked sloppy and disjointed in every department, failing to cause concern to
opposition goalkeeper Trevor Carson, whose only real save was to push a close-range second-half effort from Stevie May on to the post.
Moult’s opener, three minutes before the break, was a back-post header from Richard Tait’s 40-yard free-kick as Joe Lewis, the Dons goalkeeper, and his central defenders, were found wanting.
Stephen Robinson, the Motherwell manager, accepted his team’s performance was not one of quality, but there was a recognition from
the Aberdeen management – relayed through Tony Docherty, the Dons assistant - that the Reds were caught-out tactically.
McInnes refused to appear at the post-match media conference, a clear sign of his unhappiness at how poorly his team had performed.
Robinson, on the other hand, was only too pleased to sing the praises of his battlers.
"Today, I felt we were very well organised,” he said. “We changed shape three times during the game because our boys buy into it and want to do well for the football club.
"It's a fantastic achievement for Louis and he should be very proud of himself. He has worked his way back from disappointments in his career so
deserves all the plaudits he's getting. His workrate, more than his goals, were the impressive thing for me today.
"But it's a team game, everyone played well today and that's what brings you wins in football. It's a squad game, the defenders came in and did really well - so that pleased me as much as Louis scoring goals.”
Moult’s second, a superb finish in the 55th minute as he volleyed home Chris Cadden’s foot-high cross into the area, capped a good day for
Motherwell as they look ahead with renewed confidence to next weekend’s League Cup final. Both Cadden and Andy Rose might have scored early in the game had it not been for the agility of Lewis in executing excellent stops as the Dons struggled without the influence of their captain, Graeme Shinnie, suspended yesterday.
The armband went to long-serving Andy Considine, playing his 408th game and moving into sixth place for club appearances. But with too many of his team-mates failing to live up to expectations, particularly in midfield where Kenny McLean, Greg Tansey and Gary Mackay-Steven failed to match their Motherwell counterparts, it was never going to be a happy affair for the local boy.
“It was a very uncharacteristic Aberdeen performance; it was a bad day,” said Docherty. “Motherwell changed their system, which threw us a little bit, but once we got to grips with that we couldn’t get going. We have no excuses. Conditions were difficult but Motherwell coped better with them than we did. There are no excuses, though, and we had an honest chat in the dressing-room.
“I don’t think it was a great spectacle and I don’t think Motherwell had to be great to get their goals, which is very disappointing.”
Aberdeen have nine league games between now and the end of the year. They will know that displays similar to that of yesterday will see them
falter in their bid to keep in touch with Celtic at the top of the Premiership.
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