Jimmy Thelin insists that his Aberdeen players must stick together if they are to address their dreadful run of form.
The Dons slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Motherwell to see their winless William Hill Premiership run extended to 10 matches.
The memories of the Swede’s magnificent start to life at Pittodrie have been banished in recent times as they have endured a torrid run of results that has seen them pick up just three points from a possible 30.
They were masters of their own downfall at Fir Park. After falling behind to Ewan Wilson’s opener in the 34th minute, a disastrous 60 seconds would put the game out of reach.
Slobodan Rubezic was sent off after a clash with Tony Watt, then straight from the restart, Tawanda Maswanhise drilled home to double Motherwell’s advantage.
Aberdeen stuck the task in the second half, though were unable to find the goal that would bring them back into the encounter.
“It’s the first time for me going through a period like this as a manager,” Thelin said.
“I think it’s important that you are strong and focus on the right things.
“In the second half, you can see the character of the team.
“We’re in a bad run, 2-0 down and playing with 10 men – but still they are trying and if you keep that spirit then you’ll always find a way out.
“As long as we can keep this togetherness, there’s a way out of this situation and we’ll be stronger.”
Thelin would not be drawn on whether he felt the red card shown to Rubezic was merited, though expressed the need for his players to show more ‘emotional control’.
The Dons boss also confirmed that he is set to be without Ester Sokler and Gavin Molloy for an extended period of time.
Thelin added: “They are going to be out for some more weeks, we’ll hopefully see them again this season.
“We keep working with trying to improve the team and stabilise the squad.”
Steelmen boss Stuart Kettlewell was pleased by the reaction of his team after they bounced back from a poor showing in their defeat to Hearts to move within four points of Aberdeen.
Motherwell ended a run of four games without a win by piling on more misery on the Dons.
They took the lead 11 minutes before half-time courtesy of Wilson’s first professional goal, then took full advantage of Rubezic’s dismissal when Maswanhise added a second just before the break.
Wilson has amassed the most minutes of anyone in the Well squad this season, something his boss was keen to pay tribute to.
He said: “Right from the word go. I thought we looked as if we were in connection with everything that we were trying to do and obviously we scored a couple of good goals.
“I’m delighted for Ewan, he’s reached every challenge I’ve set him so far, I feel he carries a real threat with the quality in his left foot.”
