McGinn strike a tonic for the Doc

ABERDEEN assistant manager Tony Docherty was delighted to see Niall McGinn strike in injury time to earn his side three points with a 1-0 win over Motherwell.

Docherty insists the outcome it is the mark of a Dons side who never know when to give up.

He said “We always leave it late. I think that’s now eight times in all competitions we’ve scored in or around the last minute, and it epitomises what the squad has in there. We have a never-say-die attitude and keep going right to the end.

“You need to give a lot of credit to the players for that.

“There was one team trying to win the game today, and one trying not to get beat.

“We were up against a stuffy team. You look at the squad to see what changes you can make to change the dynamic of the game, and our substitutes did that.”

The win lifts Aberdeen nine points clear of third-placed Rangers ahead of tomorrow’s Old Firm derby, but Docherty insists the Dons are focused only on their own results.

“We’ve done our work today,” he added. “We can only affect what we can affect, and today it was getting the three points.

“I see day-in day-out the spirit and desire to win, so what happened at the end was no surprise to me.”

Motherwell caretaker boss Stephen Robinson saw plenty of positives for his side, despite the blow of losing the game so late on, having frustrated Aberdeen for more than 90 minutes.

“It’s a tough on to take,” he said. “We matched them for 91 or 92 minutes, and make no mistake, they’re a good side.

“You could see how frustrated they were - they changed their shape a couple of times.

“We came up with a game plan to be hard to break down and try to hit them on the counter-attack.

“I can’t ask any more from the boys. They gave the club absolutely everything today.”