Everton may not be missing Lukas Jutkiewicz and John Ruddy, but both loan signings have become indispensable to Motherwell. The former struck for the fifth time this season — and his second in as many games — while the latter pulled off three magnificent saves to help to preserve his side’s excellent record of only one defeat in 12 league games this season.

As a striker, Jutkiewicz’s exploits have attracted most of the plaudits this campaign, though it is becoming increasingly hard to ignore the contribution of his 23-year-old Goodison Park team-mate, who made a superb stop from Lee Miller’s header in the thirteenth minute.

The significance of it was highlighted seconds later when the home side broke to the other end and opened the scoring through Jutkiewicz’s low drive. Ruddy’s magnificent point-blank stop from Michael Paton’s shot just before the interval was followed by another from Jerel Ifil’s header soon after the restart.

Jim Gannon, the Motherwell manager, was fulsome in his praise of the goalkeeper. “He made some fantastic saves,” he said. “He had to make them because it was poor defending in front of them but he is probably the best keeper in Scotland at the moment. John has the presence and quality and I think he is destined for great things.”

Ruddy attributed his form to regular first-team football. “I think the consistency of playing every week is paying dividends,” said Ruddy, who confirmed that he would otherwise be languishing in the Everton reserves. “It is knowing when to pass the ball and when to kick. That all comes with playing.” Asked if he would consider staying at Fir Park beyond the end of his loan deal in January, he said: “Definitely, but there are a lot of things to do before that. I just want to focus on being a Motherwell player.”

This result meant that Mark McGhee’s side are still four points adrift of Motherwell in fifth. In truth, there was little between the sides, though both had enough chances to win the game and Motherwell should have capitalised on their numerical advantage when Gary McDonald was sent off in the 68th minute.

“Even when we went down to ten men I thought we had the better of the possession and chances,” Richard Foster, the Aberdeen defender, said. “But the draw is not a bad result.”

Motherwell (4-4-2): J Ruddy 8 - Y Moutaouakil 7, S Saunders 6, M Reynolds 6, S Hammell 6 - G Coke 6 (sub: S Jennings, 70 5), T Hateley 7, R Forbes 6 (sub: J O’Brien, 46 6), J Murphy 6 – L Jutkiewicz 7 (sub: R McHugh, 84), J Sutton 6. Substitutes not used: M Fraser, K Lasley, S Meechan, S Craigan. Booked: Coke, Saunders.

Aberdeen (4-5-1): J Langfield 5 — M Ross 6 (sub: S Duff, 90), A Considine 6, J Ifil 6, R Foster 6 — P Pawlett 7 (sub: D Young, 86), M Kerr 6, G McDonald 6. M Paton 7 (sub: D Mackie, 89), C Mulgrew 6 — L Miller 6. Substitutes not used: S Bain, T Wright, D Grassi, J Crawford. Booked: McDonald. Sent off: McDonald.