JIM MAKES HIS POINT BY TAKING THE REINS

Aberdeen boss wastes no time getting to work

THE EASY option would have been for Jim Goodwin to wrap up warm and take a comfy seat in the Fir Park directors’ box.

That’s simply not the Irishman’s style. And he reasons that if he wants his players to fight their way up the Premiership table, then he had better lead from the front.

So, with barely time for a pre-match team talk, there he was — a typically animated presence on the touchline as the Dons ground out a point at Fir Park.

Long-term, he will expect much more from his team but, in the wake of the Scottish Cup defeat that spelled the end for Stephen Glass at the same venue last weekend, this was not such a bad way to start.

Goodwin watched his side claim a deserved lead through Vicente Besuijen and then received a brutal lesson in Aberdeen’s defensive fragility with the concession of Mark O’Hara’s equaliser.

‘The boys will never prepare for a game as badly as that as long as I’m manager of the club,’ said Goodwin afterwards. ‘I had the option to sit in the stand and let someone else take the team but that was never in my mind as long as we got the deal done quick enough on Friday night.

‘We got everything registered with the SFA in time for kick-off and I was adamant I was going to manage the team.

‘It was important I was there with the players to make key decisions as the game went on.

‘I don’t understand why other managers do that — wait until Monday. It’s not in my make-up.’

Goodwin made three changes to the team that was heckled as they left the field last weekend.

Joe Lewis returned in goal, while there were also places for youngsters Calvin Ramsay and Connor Barron.

Gary Woods and Funso Ojo dropped out but most conspicuous of all was the absence of Scott Brown.

The former Celtic skipper was apparently feeling the effects of a hamstring problem, yet there was no sign of him during the pre-match warm-up, something he would have been expected to participate in in his supplementary role as a first-team coach.

Unsurprisingly, Graham Alexander saw no reason to alter his Motherwell team but he was denied the opportunity to joust with Goodwin on the sidelines.

An SFA ban meant he watched from the posh seats and he would have been frustrated at the way his team started.

Aberdeen knocked ferociously on Liam Kelly’s door early on, Lewis Ferguson’s free-kick forcing the keeper to leap left and paw away before a swift counter had the keeper on the stretch.

On-loan Celtic full-back Adam Montgomery carried the ball far before playing in left-flank partner Jonny Hayes, who chipped the keeper with such delicacy, but Kelly was able to recover his position and keep out Ramsay’s back-post header.

Well were scarcely less threatening, Liam Donnelly clubbing a volley inches over the top and O’Hara’s twinkling feet preceding a shot that Lewis kept out.

Having been switched in and out during Stephen Glass’s tenure, Lewis’s confidence was bound to have taken a kicking and he nearly gave up a cheap opener from David Bates’ back-pass, slamming the ball into Kevin van Veen. The ball skidded wide but not by a great distance.

Fragile as they were, at least Goodwin’s men continued to offer a threat. Ferguson saw another powerful free-kick held by Kelly and Ramirez was then denied by the assistant’s flag as he met Barron’s cross and tuck the ball away.

Not for the first time, the delivery had come from the Dons’ left flank and, now operating ahead of Hayes, Montgomery capitalised on Bevis Mugabi’s slackness to meet Hayes’ pass and set up the opening goal.

Besuijen had been quiet but he snapped up the chance to apply an easy finish in front of the away fans.

‘We did well to get our noses in front but we should have had one before that because the Ramirez one is definitely onside,’ remarked Goodwin. ‘That is another decision that has gone against Aberdeen. We had a similar one against St Johnstone not so long ago.’ Goodwin clearly won’t be shy about confronting any perceived injustices in his new role.

The half ended with Mugabi and Declan Gallagher entering the

book for their reactions to a meaty challenge contested by Hayes and O’Hara (left with Mugabi).

For a while it looked like Hayes would not be able to continue but the halftime break, if not the trip up and down the stairs to the changing area, gave him scope to recover.

Alexander’s assistant, Chris Lucketti, felt Hayes ought to have at least been yellow-carded for his tackle.

‘I thought it was reckless,’ he remarked afterwards. ‘I didn’t think it was dealt with as it should have. Mark has got a big gash on his knee and his shin from that tackle.

‘It is always difficult for referees, they can miss things and it is easy for us to go back and review things on the laptop. We did that and we certainly thought it should have been dealt with better than it was.’

The equaliser was a horrible watch for the new manager. Somehow Motherwell managed to plough their way through the middle of the Dons defence but they needed no guile, merely persistence and a bit of muscle to force the ball home.

A ball into Van Veen should have had Gallagher on high alert and at least on his toes, but the former Fir Park man was bumped by the Dutchman, who turned and dispatched a not-especially powerful shot.

Lewis got a hand to the ball that merely slowed its progress enough to allow O’Hara to catch up and prod home from close range.

Motherwell could have nicked it at the death as Connor Shields pounced on a long ball forward and flashed a shot just too high.