The visitors made the more positive start to the match as they decided to field their red card trio from Saturday. Despite their dominant possession they did little to threaten the Dons' goal. Their best chance came from a blunder from Mark Peat when he took too long over a clearance and had the ball charged down by Jack. Fortunately he recovered well to mop up the danger.
Aberdeen went ahead in the 24th minute slightly against the run of play when Michie calmly fired past the Motherwell keeper from 12 yards. The Dons built on this and doubled their advantage in the 33rd minute with a delightful strike from Ross O?Donoghue. He was given too much space on the edge of the area and curled a lovely effort beyond the keeper.
Aberdeen were looking stronger in the second half and carved out several good chances through Michie and Muirhead. However a combination of poor finishing and a fine fingertip save from a fierce Michie effort denied the home side. Then against the run of play Motherwell took the lead and Aberdeen went down to ten men. A Motherwell shot was cleared from the line and play raged on. The far side linesmen held his flag up and, after conferring with the referee, O?Donoghue was ordered off for deliberate hand ball. Jack fired home the spot kick.
Aberdeen had several chances to grab the winner, but luck wasn?t with them. In the 87th minute the Dons had a break when Motherwell hit the post, but with the ten men tiring, Clarkson rose in the final minute to head home the winner.