FIR PARK is not the first thing that pops into your head when you ponder the concepts and philosophies of ancient Chinese culture. 

Yet the notion of Yin and Yang was no alien proposition to the 4000-odd who snored their way through this one. The principle states that opposites, such as male and female, dark and light are inseparable. If you have one, then you’ll soon sample the next. 

Enter then this snoozefest between Motherwell and Aberdeen on a grey Sunday afternoon as exhibit A, m’lud.

The two teams met at the same venue on Thursday in the Betfred Cup quarter-finals, an encounter which pulsated with frenetic play, flashes of real quality, a few dollops of calamity and three goals all to whet the appetite. 

In contrast, this 1-0 win for Aberdeen, their first victory for a month was, well, not that.

It was eventually won thanks to an Andrew Considine goal on 56 minutes to break the monotony of midfield battles, headers back and forward and a seemingly endless stream of throw ins. 

It did deliver a response from their hosts who ran out 3-0 winners on Thursday, but not enough to salvage a draw they possibly just about merited.

Motherwell would have preferred to have won on Thursday if given the choice, but Stephen Robinson was pleased with the application of his players in the face of an Aberdeen team that were forced to change their own style of play to deal with the Lanarkshire side.

“I can’t fault my players at all,” said the Motherwell boss “They are the fittest bunch of boys I have ever worked with, they continue to keep going and do the right things time and time again and I’m extremely proud of them. 

“I thought we deserved a minimum of a point and it probably shows how far we have come that they are celebrating and banging doors. 

“And fair play to them, they have won the game and stood up to us.”

For all the poor play in this one, the goal was a brief breath of fresh air. However, it also had a whiff of the scrappy about it. A low ball into the box was flicked on by Stevie May to Ryan Christie, who then sent a backheel flick arrowing towards the bottom corner. 

Motherwell keeper Trevor Carson did well to push it on to the post, but Considine was first through a ruck of bodies to bundle home in front of just under 1000 Aberdeen fans.

This was one of few chances created by either team over the piece as Aberdeen went clear of St Johnstone in second place. By McInnes’ own admission, he had to adapt his team’s style after Thursday and it certainly worked.

Twenty-year-old defender Scott McKenna was thrown in to offer more physicality and presence at the back for Aberdeen, particularly on the left to nullify the pace and power of Chris Cadden. He did superbly well. 

In midfield, Kenny McLean, Greg Tansey and Kari Arnason added a combative edge to rival Mothwell duo Carl McHugh and Allan Campbell.

The hosts had it all their own way on Thursday but this was a much more frustrating affair for Robinson’s side who missed the chance to go above Rangers and Hibernian into fourth place.

While neither keeper had much to do, Joe Lewis in the Dons goal was particularly quiet.

In the first half, Peter Hartley dragged a shot wide, while in the second half Lewis parried Chris Cadden’s drive around the post. 

There were late shouts from Well for a penalty with Louis Moult going down after a nudge from Shay Logan and Anthony O’Connor when contesting a high ball, but referee Nick Walsh said no.