Aberdeen Voice

It was promising to be a fiery fixture and didn’t disappoint, unless you were a Dons fan, bemoans Voice’s Andrew Watson.

The controversy kicked off early, prior to the game, with numerous Celtic fans booing during the one minute’s silence for Remembrance Sunday.

Given their Irish heritage, one could forgive the Hoops for not bearing a poppy on their strip today, but to go so far as to sabotage a commemoration to ordinary men and women in conflict was just beyond the pale.

In turn the Red Army were quick to back their man, Shaleum Logan.  This was after weeks of jousting in the press with Celtic’s Aleksandar Tonev, who’d apparently racially abused the defender in the teams’ last outing.

Ex-Celt Barry Robson came on the pitch at the 10 minute mark, with Willo Flood coming off.  It’s testament to the intensity and pace of the game that the industrious Flood had to be subbed so early on.

An Andrew Considine deflection then found Adam Rooney, who bundled the ball across the line. Just.

1-0 Aberdeen after 27 minutes!

Eleven minutes later the Hoops dented the Dons hopes of a positive result.

Mark Reynolds and keeper Scott Brown were caught out by an Anthony Stokes ball which his teammate really shouldn’t have been able to latch onto. But did.

1-1 (Stefan Johansen).

Aberdeen really should’ve been ahead by this point, but instead squandered numerous chances to stamp their authority upon the game.

A power struggle of sorts ensued for the remaining duration of the game, with David Goodwillie coming on for Rooney after 67 minutes.

Eighteen minutes later Jeffrey Monakana came on, with Peter Pawlett coming off.

Roundabout this time Celtic’s skipper, Scott Brown, was shown his second yellow, offering a glimmer of hope for the Dons.

The ten-man Parkhead side didn’t succumb, though.

Johansen turned from receiver to provider with a controversial corner.

It was the first of two, and according to the eyes of many, the first one should’ve been a goal kick as keeper Brown made no contact with the ball as he dived to cover his line.

Anyway, the second corner, from the foot of Johansen, found his man at the back post.

1-2 (van Dijk) after 90 minutes.

Aberdeen had gilt edged chances to equalise and were very frustrating to watch, here onward.

To top it off, Logan was sent off in the tunnel after the game for questioning a certain decision by the linesman, apparently by using some colourful language, too.

Final score:  1-2.

This cagey affair saw the end of Motherwell’s unbeaten record at Pittodrie since November 2008, reports Andrew Watson.

Each side practically cancelled the other out, bar the early goal.  Hardly an advert for the supposed excitement of the Friday night football fixture.
Things started promisingly, though.

Two minutes from the whistle some good passing saw Aberdeen’s Jonny Hayes with a chance on goal.  He drilled low and under the keeper.

1-0!

Hayes soon had another chance but his clever chip saw the roof of the net.

It actually looked like, at least for awhile, it would be end to end stuff with the Steelmen hitting two efforts just over the bar.

It didn’t help that the Dons second in command keeper, Scott Brown, was left grasping for the ball and failing miserably.

From there on it descended into a rather tedious midfield battle between the two.  Half time came and went.

61 minutes into the game, striker Adam Rooney came on the pitch to replace Peter Pawlett. Thirteen minutes later, David Goodwillie came off for Barry Robson.

Cammy Smith then came on for Hayes at the 84 minute mark.

At some point the Red Army sang the following, after some touchline drama involving the Fir Park men’s gaffer, of ex-Rangers repute:

“Stuart McCall, is a wanker, is a wanker!”

There was even the pleasure of watching their number five, Simon Ramsden, wait not so patiently to receive the ball back from an Aberdeen fan in the Main Stand, who elected to feign throwing the ball back to him for the throw in.

That is, before eventually giving him the ball back.

You had to be there for moments like that, because, excluding the lone goal, there was little else to get excited about.  Come on you Reds.

Final score:  1-0.

This fixture against Inverness was a hotly contested and sometimes bad tempered match that made for some entertaining football, says Voice reporter Andrew Watson.

There were four yellow cards throughout the match’s duration and at times the ball hardly left the middle of the field, with tackles aplenty.

Yet expansive play, even just moving
the ball slightly forward, was held to a minimum.

16 minutes into the game, a poorly defended free kick left keeper Jamie Langfield exposed. The Caley Jags eluded their opposite jerseys and headed into the net.

1-0 (Josh Meekings).

It was a worry to see the wind knocked out the sails of the Reds so quickly.

Poor passing, though, between the Thistle keeper and his teammate at the back offered perfect opportunity for Adam Rooney to score an equaliser.

Cottoning on to the pass back, he beat the man between the sticks and salvaged the game for Aberdeen.

1-1 Aberdeen after 24 minutes!

The Reds then went ahead minutes before the stroke of half time. In this passage of play it seemed imminent the Dons would hammer in another goal and put them in the lead.

However, they were pinned back by Inverness, and almost out of the box, until expert holding play by David Goodwillie afforded them another chance.

He found attacking defender Shaleum Logan who cracked the ball into the roof of the net on 40 minutes.

2-1 Aberdeen!

Ten minutes into the second half Logan went from saint to sinner.

His poor tackle left Langfield vulnerable, and although he could’ve done better one on one with his attacker, blame laid largely upon the Englishman.

2-2 (Marley Watkins).

An arguably similar scenario up the other end of the pitch gifted former Inverness player Jonny Hayes the winning goal.

3-2 Aberdeen after 59 minutes!

Cammy Smith came on for Goodwillie at the 79 minute mark.

Then Peter Pawlett came off for Jeffrey Monakana two minutes into added time.

Goal hero Rooney took his time to come off the pitch against his former club a minute later, and was replaced by Lawrence Shankland.

It’s perhaps testament to the overall strength and depth of the squad that Aberdeen are finally bringing in the right results, especially recently.

On the other hand, if they haemorrhage goals like they almost did in this match, good and plentiful additions to the score sheet might count for nothing.

Final score:  3-2.