By grabar
September 19 2010

Motherwell were held at home against an ultra defensive Aberdeen side at Fir Park on Saturday.

Mark McGhee seemed to think he was playing against one of the major powers of Europe the way he set up his side on Saturday afternoon, when he came to Fir Park with a side containing five centre halves. A move he claimed was inspired by Walter Smith's sides performance at Old Trafford, this is the first time I have ever heard anyone compare at trip to Fir Park to one to the Theatre of Dreams!

This approach from Aberdeen meant chances were limited in the early stages of the game with neither side creating much in the first half hour. Hartley fired a free kick straight at Randolph, while Jennigs shot wide and Hateley sent a free kick into the wall for Well.

The opening goal came in 35 minutes when Murphy burst on to a through ball from Blackman and left Ifil on his backside before firing through the legs of Langfield to make it 1-0.

The Dons should have been level with seven minutes when Vernon capitalised on Reynolds misjudgement of a long ball but he snatched at his shot and fired well wide.

The striker was luckier in the early stages of the second half when he bagged the equaliser. Maguire was quick to react to a throw in and squared from the bye line to give Vernon a simple chance which he almost messed up with his shot from a yard out only scraping into the net off the inside of the post.

It took until the dying stages before we had any more real excitment with Murphy and Jennings missing great chances to seal the points for Motherwell.

In the end McGhee's tactics won and the game was poorer for that as the fans were no entertained and went home with precious little to talk about in a game that will not live long in the memory.