LAST ACTION HERO
Dons never need to worry about goals with McGinn around, says O’Connor
Anthony o’Connor didn’t need to worry. Aberdeen were being held well by Motherwell and struggling to break down a resolute and well-drilled defence. But when you have players of the quality of niall McGinn, there’s no need to panic.
on their last trip to Pittodrie, Motherwell had conceded seven. Caretaker boss Stephen Robinson went five at the back in an attempt to keep the Dons out — and for the majority of the match it worked. With Carl Mchugh acting as a sweeper, the Well backline was resilient.
Deep into stoppage time they were finally infiltrated. Jonny hayes’ cross was accurate and McGinn had the composure to lash the ball into the bottom corner. For the first time since 1986, they had won eight home games in a row. o’Connor always had faith it was an achievement they would match.
‘Motherwell were always going to sit in and try to make it hard for us but we had chances and should have scored before we did,’ he said. ‘But it shows the character and desire in the team that we never give up and keep going until the end to get that goal.
‘It shows what we’re all about at the minute and it’s a good camp. We can equal a (club) record for (nine) consecutive home wins in our next game, so it was a good day and we move on to the hearts game.
‘We’ve scored a lot of late goals and that spirit and desire is something you can’t teach. It’s inside you to keep going. Sometimes you will see players who will accept it’s not their day and pack it in but we have the calibre of player who will keep going and believing.
‘Even players who come off the bench are changing games but it was niall who popped up with another vital goal — he’s been doing that recently — and we were over the moon.
‘you build a winning mentality by winning games. We haven’t lost many this season. It’s great to have that in your locker and we dust ourselves down because there’s a lot to play for and teams behind us are trying to catch us.’
Aberdeen were by far the better team against Motherwell but struggled against the ugly, yet effective, tactic from the visitors to put as many men behind the ball as possible and try to grind out a result.
Adam Rooney saw an early header go over the bar and he should have done better than shoot wide from the edge of the box when he had the option to slip in McGinn soon after.
Scott McDonald and Ben heneghan went close for the visitors but it was a rare flurry outwith their own half.
Rooney forced a good save from man-of-the-match Craig Samson with a snapshot from a Jayden Stockley cross and McGinn was also denied by the goalkeeper, who did well to tip his half-volley over the bar.
hayes saw a shot blocked by Zak Jules as the hosts began the second period in the same form as the first and Graeme Shinnie may have done better from close range than blaze a Kenny McLean cross over the bar. they’d had the chances but just hadn’t been able to take them. however, as o’Connor says, this Aberdeen team keeps going until the final minute.
hayes whipped the cross in from the left hand side after bursting away from his marker and picked out McGinn. the northern Irish winger struck the ball first time with his left foot, sending it spinning into the bottom corner.
the win means Aberdeen’s lead in the race for second in the Scottish Premiership is now eight points over Rangers.
‘We are confident of getting second spot but we need to go out every week and earn it because nobody will give it to us,’ added o’Connor. ‘If we just turn up and think: “We’re nine points ahead, we’ll finish second” then that’s when you get a kick up the backside.
‘We lost at hamilton a couple of weeks ago and people probably looked at that and thought it would be an easy win and, despite dominating, we still lost it, so we need the right mentality.’
For Motherwell, it kept up their disappointing run of form where they have only won one of their last six games. Despite the lack of results, Mchugh believes that Robinson deserves the Fir Park job full-time.
‘As you saw, the players were giving him absolutely everything and that’s all anyone can ask for,’ said Mchugh.
‘Stephen would be a great appointment for us as he has us well organised and we had a plan coming here.
‘We all knew our jobs and there was no stone left unturned in the preparation, which really showed in the way we played.’