McInnes delight as Dons demolish Motherwell

Derek McInnes struggled to keep the smile off his face after seeing his Aberdeen side hammer Motherwell 7-2 to steal a march on second place in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Jonny Hayes had the Dons in front after just two minutes, and there were further strikes from Andy Considine, Adam Rooney and Ryan Christie before the first half was done.

Rooney netted two more goals after the interval before Ryan Bowman and Stephen Pearson found the net for the visitors but Peter Pawlett added a seventh for Aberdeen.

Aberdeen boss McInnes, who saw his side move three points clear of third-placed Rangers, said: "I'm absolutely delighted with the level of performance tonight.

"Individually there was such a high level of performance, and it was such a strong team performance. To score so many goals and threaten to score many more was above expectations tonight.''

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan was in the Pittodrie crowd and would have been impressed with the performance of midfield trio Ryan Jack, Christie and Kenny McLean.

Jack and McLean were solid throughout, while Christie's spectacular goal, marking his first start since joining the Dons on loan from Celtic, was something special.

McInnes agreed: "We've seen the goal of the season from Ryan Christie. It was top drawer. With the outside of his boot, it's so nonchalant and right into the stanchion.

"Ryan Jack and Kenny McLean are international players. They showed that tonight. For me, they're going to have good Scotland careers and they did themselves no harm tonight.''

Motherwell boss Mark McGhee claims he will be consulting a lawyer about his treatment after being sent to the stands.

The former Dons boss was ejected from the dugout after an hour, but says the decision was a result of fourth official John McKendrick's overzealous attitude rather than a misdemeanour.

He said: "I'm absolutely disgusted and horrified by the attitude of the fourth official. Before a ball was kicked, he was causing issues that didn't exist.

"I'm not blaming the referee, because he can only go by what the fourth official said.''

Asked if he would be speaking to referee chief John Fleming, McGhee continued: John Fleming? I'll be speaking to a lawyer. I can only think there is an agenda.''

With his side 4-0 down before his sending off, McGhee admitted his side were outplayed.

"We started badly and never recovered,'' he said. We set ourselves out to play exactly how they played.

"We were aware of the poor quality of the pitch and wanted to keep it simple. We tried to do what they were doing, but they did it better than us.

"The goals were diabolical. It was uncharacteristic, because we lose games but not usually in that manner.''

With a trip to face Celtic looming this weekend, though, McGhee remained in a positive mood.

"We'll lick our wounds and see what we can do,'' he added. "We've got an easier game on Saturday!''