Jimmy Thelin remaining calm as Aberdeen hit 10 in a row with Motherwell win

Posted Sunday, September 15, 2024 by PA

Boss Jimmy Thelin is refusing to get carried away after Aberdeen made it 10 successive wins in all competitions this season with a 2-1 victory over Motherwell at Pittodrie.

The Dons held off a late comeback from Motherwell to record a fifth straight Scottish Premiership win thanks to Pape Habib Gueye’s double.

The Senegalese striker netted a superb solo strike to open the scoring and doubled the advantage but a late goal from Moses Ebiye made for a nervy ending as Motherwell threw everything at their attempts to win a point.

But Thelin insists his side remain focused only on what is immediately ahead of them.

He said: “We take it game by game and only look at what is ahead of us. The spirit we showed with the fans and the sacrifices we made in terms of a late block from Nicky [Devlin].

“The only focus now is the training week ahead and the cup game next weekend.

“The first goal was really high class – pure quality. He kept cool to score – it was an amazing goal but he also fought for the team to pick up second balls and at set pieces.

“We have to be good in different parts of the game – the first half was good in terms of how we structured the game but in the second half Motherwell were better and we had to stick together and make these sacrifices for each other.”

Motherwell boss Stuart Kettlewell felt his side perhaps showed the Dons too much respect in the first half but was pleased with the character they displayed to come back into the game.

He said: “Aberdeen were the better team in the first half but without our goalkeeper making a save – it was territory and possession but they weren’t really carving out chances.

“I genuinely felt that how we played in the last half-hour was how we could have started the game. We were a bit more on the front foot and maybe not showed them as much respect.

“They’re playing well and they’re on a high at the moment and the crowd are up as well.

“I felt we could have done a little bit more to change the feel around the place. It came in the second half.”