Stephen Robinson hailed "one of the best away performances" of his time in charge of Motherwell after his side beat Aberdeen 1-0 at Pittodrie to extend the gap between the clubs to four points.
Motherwell are third in the Ladbrokes Premiership table and Aberdeen fourth, with Liam Donnelly's header in first-half stoppage time proving the difference.
Robinson praised his side for their discipline and endeavour in taking the three points, and said: "I'm delighted with the performance levels. To come here is a very hard task, and to come here and perform like that is credit to the players.
"They put their bodies on the line when they needed to. We were very organised and disciplined. We've been better on the ball, if we're being highly critical, which is very, very difficult after a performance like that.
"When we had to defend, put our bodies on the line and stay organised and disciplined, it's probably one of the best away performances in my time here."
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes insists his side can bounce back to take third spot despite this setback.
"We've lost a battle tonight but we can still win the fight. I still believe we can win that European spot. It was Motherwell's night tonight and we applaud them for that," McInnes said.
"The goal we lost deserves to be punished for the way we defended it. It was two teams with healthy regard for each other going toe-to-toe, but ultimately we go down 1-0 and have it all to do. Motherwell had something to hold on to and they defended it well.
"We're too reliant on Sam Cosgrove, and by and large we need creativity, speed and a bit of quality in the final third. Hopefully we can get the necessary players in this window to make that happen."
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