Pantomime season may be nearing its end but when the bones of this game are picked over, the goals which sunk Ian Baraclough's Motherwell will show a high element of farce involved in his players' best efforts to end Aberdeen's winning run.

While Adam Rooney's two goals will be noted as the decisive moments in the match - their seventh successive league victory since a 2-1 reverse at home to Celtic in November - it was the run up to both events which highlights perfectly what has been going wrong for Motherwell this season. While Aberdeen's gap at the top of the SPFL Premiership has increased to four points, their hosts here sit just six points above bottom-placed Ross County and many have wondered why virtually the same team which pipped Aberdeen to second last season is now flirting with relegation just a few months later.

The answers were given at Fir Park yesterday: A mixture of carelessness and on the wrong end of the stick.

For the first goal on 36 minutes, an awful ball out of defence from Fraser Kerr was sent straight into the path of Andrew Considine. He then fed the ball to David Goodwillie to chip through to Rooney, who was allowed to drift away from his marker, drive in on goal and slip a calm shot under Dan Twardzik.

With just seconds left to play, a woeful piece of officiating put the game finally beyond reach of Baraclough's team. A Niall McGinn cross was flapped by Twardzik straight into the path of Jonny Hayes. The Aberdeen man unleashed a first-time rocket from 10 yards which scudded off a helpless Stephen McManus on the line, with referee Willie Collum adjudging him to have displayed the reflexes of Superman to intentionally handball on the line, with TV pictures suggesting it actually hit his shoulder. Hayes demonstrated just as much decisiveness as Collum with his finish, albeit with much more accuracy, to send the ball beyond Twardzik.

"Mick is stood on the line, he's not put his hand towards the ball and it's just hit him below the shoulder. He can't get out of the way of it," said the Motherwell manager. "Will it have changed the result? Possibly not, but it could impact on us further down the line so we will appeal it.

"For the first we gave a sloppy ball away and then didn't deal with the diagonal through from Rooney, so we almost gifted them that. On the back of the Hamilton result we could have folded like a pack of cards, but we didn't."

In that New Year's Day game against Accies, the New Douglas Park team showed a keen eye for goal which results in five strikes flying into the Motherwell net. There were a similar amount of chances created by Aberdeen yesterday, however their aim was less focused than that of Alex Neil's men.

After just three minutes, Goodwillie was allowed time inside the box to pick his spot but the former Dundee United man could only lash a shot straight at Twardzik. Seven minutes later a floated McGInn cross was powered wide by the head of the diving Rooney, while McGinn himself cracked a 20-yard effort off the bar just a minute or so after Pawlett had fluffed his lines at the edge of the box.

The start of the second half began in much the same way as the first ended. A Pawlett cross was nodded back across goal and off the post by Considine, while Goodwillie would twice miss when through on goal in the latter stages of the match.

For Motherwell, the stand-out performer was not in question. Dom Thomas, the Fir Park club's 18-year-old winger, was only on the park for 21 minutes but still managed to net the man-of-the-match award. In what was only his third appearance for the club - each one being as a substitute - his ingenuity caused chaos in the Aberdeen defence as he twisted, turned and tormented the league leaders with a series of drag backs and flicks.

However, with Thomas leading the Motherwell revival, any hope they had have snatching a late equaliser was wiped out with one flash of an arm. Not from McManus, but from referee Collum as he pointed to the spot for the fourth time in two matches.

"We are going into the next game full of confidence," said Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager. "The players are playing at a level individually and as a team. Because we are getting results and clean sheets the next game can't come quickly enough.

"I know what we are capable of. We are just striving for consistency. I think the players are honest enough and hard working enough to have the right attitude to the next challenge. Whether it's home or away, we have come through this festive period with some strong performances and results, and the pressure side of things hasn't reared its head, we are just enjoying it."