Motherwell 0-4 Aberdeen: Dons secure first league win since opening day in emphatic style at Fir Park
Report as Aberdeen beat Motherwell 4-0 in the William Hill Scottish Premiership
Wednesday 16 September 2026 00:03, UK
Aberdeen delivered their best performance of the season to secure an emphatic 4-0 victory over Motherwell at Fir Park.
Gavin Molloy put Stephen Robinson's side ahead shortly before half-time, before Connor Ronan put some daylight between the sides just seconds after the restart.
Motherwell huffed and puffed without troubling the Dons' rearguard, and the visitors put some gloss on the scoreline late on courtesy of strikes from Ayoub Mouloua and Kevin Nisbet.
The win - Aberdeen's first in the William Hill Premiership since the opening day - moved the men from the Granite City to within a point of fifth-placed Motherwell with one game to come before the international break.
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The hosts made just one change from their defeat against Rangers at Ibrox 10 days ago, with Jardell Kanga coming in for Ibrahim Said.
Dons boss Stephen Robinson made three following their penalty shootout triumph over Kilmarnock in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final on Saturday, as Molloy, Toyusi Olusanya and Findlay Marshall came in for Dan Happe, Mitchy Ntelo and Stuart Armstrong.
Having spent the first 10 minutes on the back foot, Aberdeen finally came to life when Afeez Aremu took aim from range, only to see his powerful volley fall just wide with Alex Paulsen scrambling.
Motherwell dominated the opening half hour but lacked a cutting edge in the final third, with an Emmanuel Longelo strike from a tight angle - comfortably parried away by Marius Muller - the best they could muster.
Marshall and Nisbet both saw curling strikes from range narrowly miss the target before Molloy showed them how it is done by drilling a piledriver into the bottom corner after Motherwell failed to clear their lines in the 38th minute.
Ronan doubled the Dons' advantage within 30 seconds of the restart, capitalising on slack play out from the back to beat Paulsen from 20 yards with the aid of a deflection.
Substitute Seb Palmer-Houlden should have done better with a header from six yards, and Motherwell were made to pay for that miss when Mouloua put the outcome beyond doubt with 15 minutes to play.
Nisbet did well to feed Ronan midway inside his own half, and the midfielder played a wonderful through ball into the Moroccan's path.
A poor touch initially looked to have taken the chance away from him, but he regrouped and rifled high into the roof of the net to send the small band of travelling supporters behind the goal wild.
And it got even better with three minutes to play when Nisbet outmuscled his marker and slid home after latching on to a hopeful ball over the top to seal a first league win on the road this calendar year.
What the managers said:
Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson:
"They're a really good team and to put in that level of performance and score so many goals…not many do it here.
"It was a very good performance after a really gutsy cup win. It gives some momentum but it's a few games and we need to continue to do it. It's my job to ignore the noise. It's not going to be straightforward so I have to keep the players believing.
"Winning gives you belief. You could see them growing into the game with the times they broke, it could have been more.
"We had a lot of penetration and we've not had an end product but tonight we did, so I'm very happy.
"The players deserve the credit, not me. It's easy to coach, but they're the ones who have to do it after the shift with 10 men on Saturday and they did it to the letter."
Motherwell boss Alfred Johansson:
We played a good first half. There are things to adjust to be even more dangerous. We had really good scenarios in the first half where we're normally really good.
"They go into half-time leading 1-0, it's not perfect but if we adjust our attacking phases and find our players in their best positions, we'd try to go and win the game.
"After 30 seconds we conceded after build-up phase and that's a punch in the face. I didn't like the reaction.
"We stress, and it's so difficult emotionally for a young team to keep their cool and stay on track, and in that moment we lost the structure a bit."
