Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen fan view: Duk drags Dons out of darkest hour – and Neil Warnock won’t forget it

Duk's immediate impact after Warnock rang the changes sparked the fight-back from 3-0 down against Motherwell.

Aberdeen's Duk scores to make it 3-3 against Motherwell. Image: SNS.
Aberdeen's Duk scores to make it 3-3 against Motherwell. Image: SNS.

For only the very elite few is football management an exact science. For the rest it is not an exercise in getting it right all the time, rather one in recognising mistakes and rectifying them before it’s too late.

In the normal run of things, being 3-0 down inside 26 minutes might be considered to be cutting it more than a little fine. Certainly, it is not recommended to play with such a handicap every week.

If truth be told, it probably need not have been quite so bad for Aberdeen. The window of opportunity between Motherwell’s second and third goals was pretty narrow – but wide enough to offer time to implement the changes which had already shown themselves to be urgently required.

Still, ripping up the gameplan and making a double personnel switch within the first half-hour is rare proactivity down Pittodrie way, and if anything the disastrous concession of that additional goal ultimately served, by deepening the hole into which the team had fallen, to amplify the extent of the eventual comeback.

Motherwell's Adam Devine scores to make it 3-0 against Aberdeen. Image: SNS.
Motherwell’s Adam Devine scores to make it 3-0 against Aberdeen. Image: SNS.

Avoiding defeat from two down is one thing. But to manage it from three behind is such a spectacular anomaly that the buoyancy it inspires virtually obliterates the memory of how it had become necessary in the first place.

If the fans can happily forget, though, it is unlikely Neil Warnock will.

Aberdeen boss Neil Warnock during the 3-3 Premiership draw with Motherwell. Image: SNS.
Aberdeen boss Neil Warnock during the 3-3 Premiership draw with Motherwell. Image: SNS.

He will not be here for too long, and it is a fair guess that his stay will not see these opening tactics reused.

What he will fall back on, though, is the positivity, aggression and resilience with which the Dons attacked the task – and, perhaps, the player who sparked it.

Duk, a diminished figure, needed something. So did Aberdeen.

In the darkest hour, perhaps both have discovered that it was the same thing.

Conversation