Dons boss Derek McInnes was pleased to see his side return to winning ways and keep a clean sheet in their victory over Motherwell at Pittodrie.
Aberdeen defeated the Steelmen 2-0 courtesy of goals in either half from Tommie Hoban and Andy Considine, with the visitors having former Inverness Caley Thistle midfielder Liam Polworth sent off early in the second period.
Following a home defeat to Rangers (2-1) and last weekend’s loss at Ross County (4-1) McInnes was pleased with the response from his side who move above Hibs and back to third in the Scottish Premiership.
He told BBC Scotland: “I mentioned to the players that when we do things properly, we’re aggressive with our work and make the most of our opportunities and getting ourselves in front then the game can be far more like the way you want it to be.
“The afternoon played out exactly how we wanted it, getting all three points takes us back to third and we’re five points better off than we were last year.
“All of sudden we have a far more positive approach going into the St Johnstone game.”
McInnes was pleased with the Reds’ performance and to have defenders Hoban and Considine contributing goals.
He added: “I thought we were good throughout, we didn’t get it all our own way.
“Such is the Motherwell attacking threat with three strikers on the pitch, we worked on and spoke about trying to go from a three to a four very quickly.
“I thought we looked far more robust in our defending and I think the clean sheet is very important to us.
“The biggest drain on any team’s confidence is losing cheap goals so we needed to make sure we got back to what has been a standard for us defending as opposed to last week.
😃 Victory for The Dons. COYR!#StandFree pic.twitter.com/1LMBoTpB58
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) January 23, 2021
“We had a good platform to go from, but I do feel (Lewis) Ferguson and (Funso) Ojo in the middle of the park allowed us to get a bit of control which allowed us to get (Scott) Wright, (Ryan) Hedges and (Matty) Kennedy to be influential in the first half.
“We scored a good goal from a set play which is pleasing because we don’t get enough from our centre-backs so both Andy and Tommie getting goals is a great output for us.
“Them going down to 10 men helps us, I believe we would have gone on and won the game having been in front.
“But it did make it less complicated than it could have been, I thought it was very good team performance and a good afternoon for us.”
