None of the 261 Motherwell fans who made the trip to the away enclave in Pittodrie expected an easy afternoon. The loss of a sloppy early goal confirmed that a tough test lay ahead.
It was a pity that it look the loss of what proved to be the only goal of the game to wake us out of the lethargy that characterised our play in the opening minutes. For the remaining 84 minutes we matched our opponents.
Carson fit and well
With Main missing the other three strikers had an opportunity to stake a claim to be first on the team sheet but none impressed. Talk of Motherwell's supposed physical style seemed way off the mark as our front men were bossed in the air by the big home defence.
Frear played the early stages in a central position but he made little headway and looked happier on the wing. He did get a shot on target in the second half but he will be remembered more for a couple of penalty claims. The first was a decent shout as Considine seemed to impede his progress in the box. The second was an embarrassing tumble that was correctly judged to be worthy of a yellow card.
Turnbull made his first league appearance of the season with a 30 minute run in the second half. We will see more of him as the season develops.
Our run of three away clashes continues on Wednesday with a Betfred Cup tie at Tynecastle. We will not make any further in the competition unless we score. That looks like a problem that will occupy the manager's thinking in the next day or two.