Motherwell, Scotland (SportsNetwork.com) - Adam Rooney scored on either side of the intermission on Sunday to lift Aberdeen to a seventh consecutive win in league play with a 2-0 result over Motherwell at Fir Park.
Since falling to a 2-1 defeat to defending champions Celtic on Nov. 11, Aberdeen have charged up the table. Those positive results, plus some recent stumbles by Celtic, have allowed the club to open a four-point margin at the head of the table.
The visitors opened the scoring after 36 minutes when Rooney fired it into the back of the net, and the task became even more difficult for Motherwell late on as Stephen McManus was shown a straight red card with three minuets to play.
Rooney then put the result away with a penalty kick conversion one minute from time to wrap up all three points, giving the club 43 points through 20 matches.
Motherwell, meanwhile, remains in 10th place with 17 points from 20 games.
Also in the Scottish Premier League on Sunday, Hamilton jumped into third place in the table with a 1-0 win over 10-man St. Johnstone thanks to a 33rd- minute goal from Anthony Andreu.
A 76th-minute strike from Billy McKay handed Inverness a 1-0 result over St. Mirren, while Jim McAllister and Craig Curran traded goals as Dundee and Ross County battled to a 1-1 stalemate.
In Sunday's final fixture, Nadir Ciftci's strike with 18 minutes to play rescued a point for Dundee United in a 2-2 draw with Partick Thistle.
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