THIS was a Friday night affair that never quite lived up to expectations, but no-one in the Aberdeen changing room afterwards cared.

A Jonny Hayes strike after only three minutes was enough to move his side's SPFL Premiership campaign back on track and end a six-year period in which they had not beaten Motherwell at Pittodrie.

But the defeat leaves Motherwell struggling with Stuart McCall, their manager, feeling under pressure and wondering how he can fashion a win to lift the gloom over Fir Park.

He insisted last night, however, that he was far from deflated and that he had taken heart from pushing Aberdeen so close. "I was lost and helpless last Saturday after the defeat to Dundee," he said. "But I'm not tonight because after the start we had it would have been easy to fold and lose four or five. But we didn't buckle under and went toe to toe with them.

"We showed courage to get on the ball and match up with Aberdeen. I didn't feel there was anything in the game and if we'd not lost that early goal it would have been a 0-0. "I have real belief in the players; it has been a disaster for the first 11 games of the season and we can't get away from that. The season starts against St Johnstone next weekend and it can't come quickly enough. The confidence is fragile. It has to be after a run like we've been on, but I know it's in these lads to turn this around."

The pre-match chit-chat centred-on the changes Derek McInnes made to his side following the 3-0 drubbing at Hamilton seven days earlier and while the Aberdeen manager insisted there was no panic because of the loss of nine goals in their previous four games, he did, nonetheless, signal his disquiet at their sloppiness and left goalkeeper Jamie Langfield, midfielder Barry Robson and striker Adam Rooney out of his starting line-up.

This allowed Scott Brown, Niall McGinn and Peter Pawlett to enter the fray against a Motherwell side without their troubles to seek and keen to find a ray of hope that their poor form is about to end.

McCall, who has complained of sleepless nights as he dreams of finding the right formula in an effort to replicate the performances that took them to the runners-up spot last season - achieved with a final-day win at Pittodrie - also altered his line-up after their 3-1 home defeat to Dundee last weekend.

The Fir Park side, which hadn't lost in the Granite City since November 2008, dropped Mark O'Brien and Lionel Ainsworth to the roles of substitute, while Iain Vigurs did not even appear on the team sheet. In came Fraser Kerr, Craig Reid and Simon Ramsden.

The hosts, eager to erase memories of that performance at New Douglas Park, raced into the lead in just three minutes of play as David Goodwillie fed Hayes and, after dismissing a half-hearted challenge from Stephen McManus on the edge of the area, he burst forward to place his shot between the legs of Dan Twardzik, the Motherwell goalkeeper.

Moments later, as if to underline his effervescent approach, the Irishman tried to chip Twardzik and came too close to hitting the target for Mothwerwell's comfort.

McManus' opportunity to make amends for his half-hearted tackle on Hayes might have been taken had his clean shot from 15 yards, as the home side struggled to clear an attack, been a foot lower. Josh Law's header from Henrik Ojamaa's corner kick a few minutes later also caused Aberdeen hearts to flutter.

In truth, the fizz we expected to accompany such a dazzling start to this game, was not apparent and even when Shay Logan found himself a few yards from the Motherwell goal as he accepted McGinn's cross, his shot was weak and straight at Twardzik.

Seconds later, neither Ryan Jack nor Goodwillie, both in contention to connect with another McGinn cross, could do so with no Motherwell defender in the vicinity.

It was to Goodwillie that the next meaningful chance fell as McGinn set him free in the channel, only to see his team-mate blast his effort high with Twardzik showing his relief.

Yet the Lanarkshire side displayed a resilience that almost brought a reward. Craig Reid beat substitute Barry Robson, who had just replaced Goodwillie seconds earlier, to a loose ball 25 yards out and his strike was powerful enough to force Brown to produce a meaningful save.

For McInnes, there was delight at not only winning following the debacle at Hamilton, but at keeping a clean sheet, considering "where we were last week, being rightly accused of sloppiness and lack of concentration".

He added: "Against Motherwell, we defended well with the same back four. It was the total opposite of the Hamilton game; we were solid, resolute and full of aggression. We've played better in games this season but we needed this sort of performance.

"And we kept Motherwell playing in front of us for most of the game so that pleased me."