Aberdeen 1 - 1 Motherwell

Aberdeen enjoyed most of the possession in the opening quarter. Brendan Hamilton put over a number of dangerous crosses from left but on each occasion the strikers were crowded out and prevented from getting a shot away by some good defending.

On ten minutes the first corner of the game was played wide and skipper Dylan Lobban saw his first time shot just went over. A well worked moved.

Despite the Dons early dominance, it was the visitors who very nearly took the lead. On 16 minutes a clever one-two on the edge of the area released Lennon Miller and he was only thwarted by a very good block by Blessing Oluyemi. Lennon, the son of former Aberdeen striker Lee, made his first team debut on Tuesday in the League Cup win over Inverness CT.

After 20 minutes Adam MacDonald fired just wide then a short time after that, Oluyemi was called into action again and produced a good double save from Luca Ross and Dylan Wells.

If the opening spell had belonged to Aberdeen, the visitors had enjoyed the best of the action in the next quarter.

Back came the young Dons.

On 35 minutes good wing play by Emslie, his cross found the run of Bavidge but the striker could not direct his shot on target. Cammy Wilson then managed to get a powerful shot away but his effort was too close to Kyle Aitken. The keeper then did well to palm a shot away from Emslie, which actually started a break for his side and resulted in his opposite number making a save from a Adam MacDonald shot.

On the stroke of half time Mark Ferrie had probably the best chance of the half but his instinctive shot from close range was straight at Oluyemi.

HT Aberdeen 0 Motherwell 0

The second half continued to be end to end. Blair McKenzie was booked for stopping a promising 'Well break on 50 minutes. From the resulting free kick Dylan Wells forced Oluyemi to tip it over the bar. Another good save. Five minutes later a great chance when Hamilton's low cross was not cleared. Both Bavidge and Wilson had shots blocked by a combination of keeper and defender. That was Wilson's last bit of action as he was then replaced by Scotland U16 squad member Lewis Pirie.

On 63 minutes Emslie picked up the ball on the half way line, burst past the full back and put over a superb cross which picked out Harvey but he could not get enough on his header. But five minutes later he would score the opener. A rare slip on the half way line by a Motherwell defender allowed Pirie to break forward. The substitute did really well to time his pass to Harvey perfectly, who had peeled away, and the striker fired the ball across the keeper into the net. A great finish.

However, the lead did not last long.

In the 70th minute Luca Ross stepped inside right back Kai Watson who brought him down and the referee pointed to the spot. Lennon Miller put the keeper the wrong way and the visitors were back on level termsm almost immeditely.

Back came Barry Robson's side and Pirie again almost created an opening, he latched onto a through ball from Hamilton before cutting it back across goal but there was no one there.

With fifteen minutes to go striker Mark Ferrie produced a fine turn and shot inside the area but his effort just went wide. After that is was Aberdeen who liked the more likely to grab the winner as they pushed forward. With five minutes to go Harvey shot just over. Then Finlay Murray and Adam Emslie also had shots from the edge of the area but in the end the young Dons had to settle for a point.

On the balance of play, a fair result in the end.