Jack MacKenzie played his part in an Aberdeen display that saw the side back to somewhere near their best at Fir Park, but admitted that the challenge now is to find a greater level of consistency.

“We came into the game in 11th, we knew we needed a reaction from Sunday, and we produced a good all-round team performance. We were good last Thursday against PAOK, then really poor against Kilmarnock and good again at Motherwell. We’ve struggled for consistency and that’s not good enough.

“Win one, lose one, win one, lose one will never get us where we want to be. The league is so tight again, like it has for the last couple of years. We won seven on the bounce last season and that took us from ninth to third and into Europe, so it’s there for any team that can find some consistency. We want to be that team.

“We were pleased with the performance at Motherwell, it was a big improvement from Kilmarnock, which was really poor. We were excellent for 80 minutes then a bit sloppy at the end to concede two goals, but the most important thing was to get the three points.

“The pitch was in good condition, it allowed us to pass the ball which we didn’t do enough at the weekend. We started well and continued that on. With the situation in the league, we needed to win this game, but it will also help us take some confidence into the semi-final on Saturday too. We need to start that game as well as we started this one.”