Motherwell late show ends wait for league win and piles more misery on Aberdeen

Motherwell struck twice in added time to beat Aberdeen 2-0 and heap the pressure on under-fire Dons boss Jimmy Thelin.

The visitors looked to have survived a second-half onslaught before Johnny Koutroumbis’ shot slipped through the grasp of Dimitar Mitov in the second minute of stoppage time.

And minutes later Apostolos Stamatelopoulos converted from the penalty spot to secure Well their first Scottish Premiership win of the season after starting the campaign with five successive draws.

Aberdeen arrived at a rain-soaked North Lanarkshire with just one point from their first five league encounters and Thelin went with a back-five for the first time since their Scottish Cup triumph in May.

Kristers Tobers made his first appearance since the final after the Latvian recovered from a long injury lay-off, one of six changes from the side that lost 2-0 to Dundee United in midweek.

Motherwell were unchanged from the side that won 1-0 at Pittodrie seven days ago in the Premier Sports Cup, as Jens Berthel Askou looked to end their run of league draws.

The visitors almost went ahead inside the opening 40 seconds when Motherwell goalkeeper Calum Ward turned Kevin Nisbet’s header over the crossbar.

There was a nervous moment for Mitov in the 24th minute as he spilled Tawanda Maswanhise’s fizzing cross, though the keeper recovered to gather at the second time of asking.

The Steelmen were beginning to look dangerous but could not muster an attempt on target. A promising burst forward from Ibrahim Said ended with the Nigerian firing well wide of the target.

Ward was called into action again after 37 minutes, leaping to beat away Adil Aouchiche’s half-volley.

There was a huge escape for the home side with two minutes remaining of the first half. Jesper Karlsson’s scooped cross was cushioned into the path of Nicky Devlin who saw his goal-bound header cleared on the line by Elliot Watt.

Early in the second half, Watt’s free-kick agonisingly evaded Stephen Welsh who looked poised to glance Motherwell ahead.

In the 63rd minute, Stamatelopoulos spurned a glorious chance when he found himself in space after collecting Said’s cross. The Aussie striker’s hesitancy proved costly as he fired straight at the keeper.

Much of Aberdeen’s threat was coming on the counter. Aouchiche was denied by a fantastic challenge by Emmanuel Longelo just as he looked to be bearing down on goal.

Stamatelopoulos lay flat out on the turf in the 79th minute when he somehow headed wide from close-range following Maswanhise’s deflected strike.

After finding themselves on the back-foot for the majority of the second half, the Dons had chances of their own in the closing minutes with Topi Keskinen and Marko Lazetic both going close.

However, a moment to forget for Mitov would lead to Koutroumbis’ shot spinning over the line to spark bedlam amongst the home supporters in the second minute of added time.

Esapa Osong then won a penalty which was awarded following a VAR check, allowing Stamatelopoulos to continue Well’s unbeaten run and clinch Askou’s first league success.