Aberdeen came from behind to beat Motherwell 4-1 and and secure a top-six place in the Scottish Premiership.
Jimmy Thelin’s men started brightly only to fall behind to a Callum Slattery header, but they turned the game around in an entertaining first half at Pittodrie thanks to goals from Alfie Dorrington and Leighton Clarkson.
In-form striker Kevin Nisbet netted a second-half brace to give the Dons a well-earned win.
Missing goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov through injury, the Dons made three changes from their draw with St Johnstone before the international break, while Well showed two alterations from their tie with St Mirren.
The Dons started strongly, with Jeppe Okkels picking out the run of Topi Keskinen after just two minutes, but the Finnish winger could only flash his effort wide of the near post.
The visitors had barely ventured forward in the opening five minutes, so it came as a surprise when they took the lead.
Harry Paton stood the ball up for Slattery to head home the opener via the underside of the bar.
But that blow seemed to spur Aberdeen on and they were soon level.
Ellery Balcombe in the Motherwell goal denied Keskinen and from the resulting corner the Steelmen could not fully clear.
The ball fell to on-loan Tottenham defender Dorrington, who fired home from just inside the area via a deflection off Andy Halliday.
The Dons continued to press, with Balcombe turning a Nisbet effort around the post before denying the Scotland man again just a minute later.
Motherwell lost defender Liam Gordon to injury midway through the half, replaced by Kofi Balmer, and the game settled a little.
However, the home side still looked the more lively and Clarkson saw his whipped ball in from the left evade Pape Habib Gueye but almost sneak in at the back post, Balcombe throwing himself across goal late to turn it behind.
A short corner routine followed, with Clarkson this time whipping a shot goalwards, across the helpless ‘keeper and inside the far post from 20 yards.
Aberdeen’s Leighton Clarkson celebrates his goal against Motherwell
And Aberdeen could have been further ahead by the interval as Okkels picked up on a Nisbet flick before seeing a low shot beaten away by Balcombe.
The Dons remained on top after the break, with Clarkson and Ante Palaversa having shots blocked soon after the restart.
Motherwell could have found a leveller when Slattery’s clever through-ball put Tom Sparrow through, but his effort flashed across the face of goal.
Back at the other end Balcombe held well from Gueye as Aberdeen sought a third and it finally arrived after 77 minutes.
Full-back Alexander Jensen swung over a delightful cross from the right and Nisbet rose to power home a back-post header.
And the Scotland man fired home a stoppage-time strike from distance, the ball going in off the underside of the bar, to complete an emphatic win for Aberdeen.
What the managers said…
Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin said: “It was a good performance, but the most important thing for me is the quality in the squad is growing and we have healthy competition.
“The players are taking more responsibility now in terms of keeping the balance of the team and showing their quality when required.
“I was really happy with how we responded to losing the goal. The reaction was really strong with no stress and we did the things we wanted to do, with belief.
“We showed our supporters what we want to be in terms of pressing and transitions. I liked what I saw today.”
Motherwell boss Michael Wimmer said: “I think we started well, the energy was good after the whistle and we scored, but then we lost out to Aberdeen on possession.
“Aberdeen were better and for us I think it was luck to only be 2-1 down at half-time.
“We spoke about this at half-time, that we need more possession and composure. If we win the ball we need to keep the ball and I think we did that really for 20 minutes. We had a lot of possession after half-time, we had two chances.
“(At) 3-1 (that) was it for us and I was not happy after that, I had the feeling that after 3-1 we gave up. The spaces between the lines were too much and the reaction to mistakes was not OK.
“It will be a big learning for us, we will speak about the last 15 minutes, but for me Aberdeen were a brilliant team.”
