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Motherwell showed fighting spirit to hold off a late Aberdeen comeback to secure a closely-fought victory at Alliance Park on Sunday.

Carla Boyce fired the hosts in front early on, before Chelsie Watson doubled Motherwell’s advantage in quick succession.

Boyce then prodded home the third to give Motherwell a comfortable three goal advantage after 10 minutes.

Bayley Hutchinson pulled one back for the visitors midway through the first half, but Boyce responded to net her hat-trick and Motherwell’s fourth in the second half.

Francesca Ogilvie netted a late second for the visitors, before Johan Fraser added a third to give Motherwell a nerve-racking final 10 minutes.

However, Paul Brownlie’s side stood resolute to record their third league win this season.

Motherwell would break the deadlock after five minutes. Katie Rice’s powerful strike from the edge of the box ricocheted off the crossbar, and Boyce calmly followed up to earn her first goal in claret and amber.

The hosts then doubled their advantage minutes later. Rice’s perfectly weighted free kick was misjudged by the goalkeeper, and Watson stepped up to place her strike high into the net past Gail Gilmour from a few yards out.

The women of steel continued to look threatening in the early stages and would add a third on the 10-minute-mark. Gill Inglis’ curling effort was parried away by the keeper, but only as far as Boyce, who headed home her second of the game.

The visitors pulled one back midway through the first half. Hutchinson latched onto Nadia Sopel’s long ball, and the forward skilfully chipped Khym Ramsay from distance with an exquisite strike to give the Dons a lifeline.

With the hosts continuing to dominate possession, Motherwell restored their three-goal advantage on the hour mark.

Amy Anderson’s floated free kick deflected off the underside of the crossbar and fell kindly to Boyce who rifled her effort low past Gilmour to secure a hat-trick on her first home game of the season.

With the visitors chasing the game in the second half, Aberdeen netted a quickfire double against the run of play. A quick counter attack left Ogilvie through on goal, and the midfielder coolly slotted her strike past Ramsay.

Then, less than a minute later, Hutchinson’s low-driven cross was steered past Ramsay by Fraser to give the women of steel a tough final few minutes. However, the Motherwell defence held firm to secure their third league win of the season.

Motherwell’s valiant display will be a real confidence boost for Paul Brownlie’s side, before they host Glasgow City later this month.

London Pollard has joined Motherwell.

The striker goes straight into the squad for the SWPL1 home clash with Aberdeen on Sunday.

“I have been well aware of London’s talent for several years, so to get her signed for Motherwell is a massive signing,” head coach Paul Brownlie said.

“London is still very young and as with all our youth players our approach is always holistic, they have massive commitments with academic studies and we will continue to support our youth players to provide balance with football and studies.

“London can play anywhere along the front three and that provides us with more attacking options.”

Coming through the ranks at Cove Rangers, the 17-year-old burst onto the SWPL1 scene last year at Forfar Farmington, marking her top flight debut for the Station Park side with a double against the women of steel in a 4-2 opening day win in October 2020.

She added further goals against Celtic at K-Park in December, which was enough to catch the eye of the Hoops boss Fran Alonso, who recruited the pacey forward in May of this year.

Pollard was on loan at Thistle from Celtic, and looks to be a real talent for the future.

“I’m so happy to have joined Motherwell,” Pollard added.

“I want to develop my game further and feel Paul and the coaching staff are able to do just that.

“I feel this is a place I can flourish.”

Pollard will wear the number 40 shirt this season.

“We were on the floor. We’ve stood up and shown we are ready to fight again. That’s what a Motherwell team should be.”

Kevin van Veen’s clinically-taken double gave Motherwell the win at Aberdeen.

The Dutch striker’s two goals early in the second half did the damage to ensure the Steelmen ended their barren run with all three points taken.

Graham Alexander changed three men from the side which lost last time out to Rangers.

The suspended Stephen O’Donnell was replaced on the teamsheet by Juhani Ojala, with the Finn coming in at centre back and Bevis Mugabi switching to right back.

Callum Slattery and Connor Shields dropped to the bench, with Maguire and Van Veen their respective replacements.

Motherwell came north looking for a reaction to that loss but they found themselves under siege from the off at Pittodrie.

Solholm had to react quick to deny Watkins a free shot at goal from 10 yards early on, before Kelly was called into action soon after with a fingertip touch to turn away Ramirez’s goalbound header.

Motherwell settled but the Aberdeen attacks continued to come in waves.

Kelly just about got to a one-on-one with Watkins to clear, shortly before Ferguson slalomed his way through the ‘Well defence to only fire over from the right side of the area.

Hedges also saw a header from the corner flicked off the line by the head of Ojala, as Motherwell struggled to create any chances of their own in a challenging first half.

Motherwell though have proven time and again they are clinical when the chances do arrive and that proved to be the case just five minutes into the second half.

After a period in possession in attack, Goss swung a pinpoint cross to the near post where Van Veen found himself completely unmarked.

He still had work to do, but picked his spot perfectly to steer the ball across the face of goal and into the bottom-right corner of the net.

Motherwell were invigorated and were two ahead 10 minutes later.

A free-kick from the left was met at the back post by Lamie – on as a sub for the injured Ojala.

His header back across goal found Van Veen perfectly on the penalty spot, and he showed all the composure in the world to half-volley the ball into the net.

Motherwell switched to five at the back soon after and, against a wave of Aberdeen attacks, stood firm brilliantly.

They did have Kelly to thank again, with an unbelievable double save from Ramirez’s header keeping the Dons at bay.

Tony Watt is our Paycare player of the month for October.

The striker netted three goals as the team’s standout performer across the month, a haul which already makes this season his most prolific while playing for a Scottish side.

Watt makes it three awards in a row, having also been named as the top player in August and September.

Motherwell take on Aberdeen next in the final game of the first round of fixtures in SWPL1.

Kick-off on Sunday 7 November at Alliance Park is at 4pm.

Tickets will cost £5 for adults, while children go free.

Tale of the tape

Motherwell and Aberdeen faced off in the group stages of the SWPL Cup in August, with the Dons coming away with all three points in a tightly contested 1-0 victory.

The last league meeting came in 2018 in SWPL2, where Motherwell won comfortably 4-0.

Aberdeen’s victory in August was their first victory against the women of steel in the last four encounters.

Form guide

Motherwell and Aberdeen are both locked on seven points after eight games, with an identical match record of two wins, one draw and five losses in SWPL1.

Aberdeen currently occupy sixth in the table due to a superior goal difference.

Motherwell returned to action after the international break with a 5-0 defeat against title-chasing Rangers on Wednesday night.

Prior to that, Motherwell claimed seven points in nine in the league.

Aberdeen also played on Wednesday night, where they fell to a 5-0 defeat to Glasgow City. Three days earlier, they lost 2-0 to Hibernian.

Graham Alexander previews the weekend trip north in the cinch Premiership.

Unfortunately, many in our local area are forced to rely on food banks to help them eat.

A host of local organisations do incredible work to ensure those in need can get help and – as a club – we were determined to help by calling on our supporters to bring what they could to a collection ahead of our recent game with Celtic.

Our fans rallied in huge numbers, providing hundreds of bags of food.

Charity and helping others is also in the heart of our striker Tony Watt, a local boy who knows he is in a fortunate position as a footballer and is motivated to ensure others get a fair shot at a good life.

With some late collections from fans and from the playing squad, Tony visited Motherwell’s Maranatha Food Bank to drop off more supplies and find out more about the work going in.