Motherwell showed their resilience again to fight back and claim a point against Aberdeen.
Vicente Besuijen provided the Dons with a first half lead before a Mark O’Hara goal midway through the second gave ‘Well a deserved equaliser.
But unlike last week the Fir Park failed to produce the spark and the fightback which earned them progression in the Scottish Cup.
Blues skies and sunshine welcomed the teams for a second consecutive Saturday. Apart from the vast improvement in the weather, the sides retained a familiar look.
Not surprisingly, buoyed by the Scottish Cup win over the Dons last week, Motherwell were unchanged.
Although the Dons welcomed back goalkeeper and captain Joe Lewis, the most significant change for visitors was in the dugout where newly-appointed Jim Goodwin took charge of his first game.
Both teams came into this league encounter sharing the unenviable record of going six games without a league win.
For a second week, ‘Well started the game facing the Davie Cooper stand and similarly almost lost an early goal at the other end.
A free kick 30 yards from Liam Kelly’s goal presented Lewis Ferguson with the first chance of the game. Although he did well to curl his shot towards the top left-hand corner of the goal, the ‘Well ‘keeper responded to palm the ball clear.
Motherwell forced a couple of set pieces to test the visitors’ goal but after Kevin van Veen tried to curl one into the net from wide on the left, the ball fell to Liam Donnelly but his powerful volley raced over the bar.
After some neat footwork at the edge of the box, Mark O’Hara squeezed in a shot straight at Lewis although the ‘keeper needed two attempts to gather the ball.
The Dons’ ‘keeper was more decisive after 14 minutes when he raced from his goal to smother the ball at the feet of the inrushing Van Veen, who went headlong over Lewis and then required treatment to his right shoulder.
While nursing his shoulder, Van Veen almost caught out Lewis as he dallied on a David Bates pass back. The keeper was almost embarrassed as he watched his attempt to clear the ball clattered off the ‘Well striker’s boot and rebound a couple of feet wide of his post.
In the 32nd minute, Christian Ramirez thought he had given the Pittodrie men the lead for the second week but a raised flag cancelled out his netted effort from 10 yards.
An Aberdeen goal, though, was only delayed two minutes.
Adam Montgomery outpaced Bevis Mugabi at the edge of the box and although his cross was falling behind the inrushing Besuijen he managed to scoop the ball into the begging goal to make it 1-0.
‘Well responded with an O’Hara corner which found its way out to Sean Goss but he struggled to prevent his volley flying over the crossbar.
The game was drifting towards the half-time whistle when it ended with a bang.
Referee Nick Walsh gave the Fir Park side the advantage after a foul 10 yards outside the box. But as play continued Jonny Hayes dived into a tackle on O’Hara resulting in treatment for both players and a melee amongst both sets of players.
Remarkably, while Hayes escaped a caution, Mugabi and Declan Gallagher were shown a yellow card for their confrontation.
When play resumed, Van Veen was unlucky not to claim his sixth goal against the Dons when his terrific free kick smacked off the face of the post with Lewis well beaten.
The ‘Well striker came close again early in the second half. A long ball from Kelly found Jake Carroll and his pass allowed Van Veen to turn Gallagher, before hammering a low drive towards the near post which Lewis turned behind.
Just after the hour mark, Graham Alexander made a double substitution bringing on Ricki Lamie and Kayne Woolery.
It had an immediate impact when Woolery gathered the ball at the corner of the box and fired towards goal. Van Veen got a touch eight yards out but although Lewis got a glove to the ball it fell for O’Hara to prod it home and level the scores.
That injected some buzz into the home crowd and suddenly ‘Well looked a threat every time they progressed towards the Dons’ goal.
With Woolery posing a threat on the right, Motherwell were in the ascendancy and from a Goss corner Mugabi failed to make contact from four yards when he looked certain to nod the ball home.
As new boss Goodwin pounded the touchline, Aberdeen were not content with a draw and threatened on the break. And it took a brilliant last-ditch tackle from Carroll to prevent Ramirez from having a run on Kelly’s goal.
Four minutes from time, Connor Shields almost popped up with another winner against the Dons.
But after racing into the box from a tight angle his powerful drive couldn’t find the top corner of the goal.
