10pm

Today's result: Motherwell 3, Aberdeen 1.

Motherwell eased to victory over a very poor Aberdeen side at Fir Park this afternoon. In fact, the win was far more comfortable than the scoreline suggests, and had we hit five or six then the Dons could have had few complaints.

It was actually the visitors who got off to the brighter start, but the game changed after we took the lead on 8 minutes when McDonald's low drive appeared to deceive the Aberdeen goalkeeper and ended up in the back of the net. For the next 82 minutes it was virtually one-way traffic, and McDonald made it 2-0 after 26 mins when he turned Foran's drive over the line. Foran went close again before Langfield in the visitor's goal denied both McDonald (twice) and McCormack as Motherwell ended the first half well on top.

Little changed after the break, and McCormack was again denied by Langfield before the Motherwell midfielder finally got the goal he deserved when he took advantage of a mix up in the Dons' defence to tap home from close range. McDonald then had an amazing miss when he hit the ball straight at Langfield when it looked easier to score, and shortly afterwards the Aberdeen goalkeeper pulled off an amazing save to somehow block McLean's close-range header. Some of the shine was taken off an otherwise excellent win when we conceded a soft goal in injury time - Crawford's cross beat Corrigan and was flicked home by Stewart with virtually the last kick of the ball.

This was probably as good as we've played all season, although admittedly Aberdeen (and their defence in particular) were absolutely dire. I reckon the return of Phil O'Donnell was definitely a contributing factor as the midfield seemed far more organised than of recent weeks. Upfront, Skippy was phenomenal and Aberdeen simply couldn't cope with him. Slightly disappointing to lose yet ANOTHER last minute goal, although at least this time it made no difference to the final result as the three points were long since in the bag.

Team (4-4-2): Graeme Smith, Corrigan, Craigan, McLean, Hammell, McCormack (McBride 80), Kerr, O'Donnell, Foran, Hamilton (Coakley 89), Scott McDonald (Clarkson 84).
Subs Not Used: Meldrum, Paul Quinn, Fagan, Fitzpatrick.

Goals: Scott McDonald 9, 26, McCormack 53.

Booked: none.

Attendance: 6,555.

Terry Butcher's post-match comments were as follows:
"I was really worried before the game as to how they would react after last week because they got a bit of a roasting and I asked them lots of questions about their attitude, character, heart and desire. But they provided some very good answers to that. I changed the team around and I asked the players who started the game to justify what I had done and I was very, very pleased with them. The work rate was very good from front to back and it was one of the best performances of the season. At half-time I could sense a really good mood amongst the players that they weren't going to let this one slip, like they have before. A lot of the players today had their best performances for some considerable time and as a team performance it was one of the best for a good number of weeks and months. I was very pleased."

TB also believes both Motherwell and Aberdeen can still achieve a top six position:
"Both clubs are very similar in as much as we both think we should be higher up the league and we both want to be higher up the league but our performances this season don't merit that. After last year the expectation levels of everybody are certainly higher but there's still plenty of time. If you accumulate three, four, five victories it lifts you right up."

Terry Butcher says he won't stand in the way of Maurice Malpas if his assistant manager is the man Scotland boss Walter Smith wants to take charge of the national Under-21 side.

The club's AGM will take place on January 23, which incidentally is my birthday...