Aberdeen plan to 'nip it in the bud' against Motherwell and stop chance of season being derailed by away-day blues

Aberdeen are not treating their dicey away form in the league as a crisis, but there is a steely determination from them to put it right against Motherwell at Fir Park.

The Dons have only won two games on the road out of 23 in the cinch Premiership – both against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. Outside of Perth and victories become scarce, the last being a 1-0 win over Livingston in August 2021. This season, they’ve been humbled 4-0 by Dundee United and lost 3-1 to Hibs, albeit with ten men. A draw at Ross County felt like a defeat given the equaliser came deep in stoppage time, while the opening day of the season was a 2-0 reversal at Celtic. Leighton Clarkson’s wonder-strike against Saints in a narrow win is the only moment of note away from Pittodrie.

Facing a Motherwell team that is licking its wounds after recent defeats by either side of the Old Firm presents an opportunity for Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin and his players. They want to nip this in the bud so it doesn’t derail what could be a fine season, given their free-scoring nature and big wins at home.

“It’s difficult to put your finger on it,” Goodwin said of the away travails. “We have spoken about it and I don’t think it is a psychological issue. Sometimes you have to credit the opposing team. We lost in the opening game to Celtic and there is no shame in it. At Easter Road we were winning then we had a man sent off and that’s been well documented and we lost 3-1. We should have won at Ross County but lost a goal in the last ten seconds. Against Dundee United we were so poor and it was an all around disappointing day. There are some circumstances that have caused one or two of the results. The performance at Tannadice was excruciatingly bad and the players and my staff and myself are desperate to make amends.

“We have won at St Johnstone so it’s not like we haven’t won on the road – but we have to be more consistent. We can win one then lose one, we have to put a run of wins together. Hibs won four on the spin and they catapulted themselves up the table and into the mix at the top end. I believe we have players who are capable of doing that."

Defender Hayden Coulson was far more blunt in his assessment of Aberdeen’s travel sickness. “There is no specific problem but we need to nip it in the bud and crack on with the rest of the league,” he said.

One issue not affecting Aberdeen is scoring goals. They’ve netted 40 across all competitions this season. “We had a chat with the players and we shared stats with them about our goals,” added Goodwin. “Sometimes you get people giving opinions and they see the game differently. I am a great believer in stats. They are facts and that’s not me making them feel good about themselves. We are doing the difficult part of scoring goals, particularly at home, really well. On the road we are creating chances but we haven’t been capitalising on it. Hopefully we can do that against Motherwell.”