Three red cards as 10-man Aberdeen beat nine-man Motherwell

Graeme Shinnie’s first goal of the season helped Aberdeen into the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup quarter-finals as the holders beat nine-man Motherwell 2-0 in a game of three red cards at Pittodrie.

The Aberdeen captain fired his side two ahead in the 63rd minute after Oscar Priestman and Liam Gordon were sent off three minutes into each half for denying obvious goalscoring opportunities.

Kevin Nisbet scored from the fourth-minute free-kick that was the result of the first red card and Motherwell could not capitalise on Dennis Geiger’s first-half dismissal.

Shinnie had been sent off himself in his previous appearance and the skipper produced an excellent long-range finish to seal a quarter-final tie at Dunfermline.

Both managers made changes after Aberdeen’s 2-0 defeat at Fir Park on Sunday, Dons caretaker Peter Leven making four and Jens Berthel Askou changing six of his starting line-up.

The most significant changes saw Eythor Bjorgolfsson make his first Motherwell start and goalkeeper Matty Connelly brought in.

The 22-year-old keeper was in the thick of the early action when he misplaced a pass inside two minutes.

The Dons quickly worked the ball through for Lyall Cameron to run on to and Priestman inadvertently brought down the on-loan Rangers midfielder as he slipped while tracking back.

John Beaton issued the red card and video assistant Chris Graham decided not to intervene as Motherwell claimed the ball was running through into Connelly’s hands.

Nisbet compounded the punishment by stroking the free-kick into the bottom corner.

Connelly recovered to make several impressive saves from Nisbet and Cameron, twice, and the numbers were evened up when Beaton ultimately sent off Geiger after needing a VAR review to see the German midfielder catch Lukas Fadinger full on with his studs in the midriff.

Motherwell began to dominate but shots from Elijah Just and Tawanda Maswanhise, twice, were deflected wide and Connelly made a good save with his foot to stop Nisbet’s shot on the turn just before the break.

Askou had moved Tom Sparrow from left-back to the right side of midfield and he was replaced with Callum Slattery at half-time.

The three-man defence soon became two when Gordon lost the ball to Aberdeen sub Toyosi Olusanya three yards inside his half.

Beaton initially gave a yellow card, ruling that Paul McGinn and Stephen O’Donnell were covering from either side, but Graham decided that was a clear and obvious error. After lengthy deliberations, the referee brandished his third red card of the night.

Motherwell were now effectively playing with a two-man defence with wingers Maswanhise and Regan Charles-Cook tracking back to help out, although left-back Emmanuel Longelo came on for Bjorgolfsson to allow the former to move up front.

Tom McIntyre produced a last-ditch tackle on Just to prevent the Motherwell midfielder from equalising but the Dons doubled their lead when Shinnie fired home from 23 yards after Mitchel Frame burst inside from the left.

Motherwell were not finished. Dimitar Mitov saved from subs Longelo, Ibrahim Said and Sam Nicholson, and Maswanhise hit the post, although he was flagged offside from a tight call, while Slattery curled inches wide.

But ultimately, the task proved too great for the Steelmen, whose route to a potential European place will need to come through the league.