Caley Archives - Aberdeen Voice

Dons Announce Ticket Details For Semi-Final

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Mar 222012

With thanks to Dave Macdermid.

Tickets for the Dons Scottish Cup semi-final against Hibernian at Hampden on Saturday 14th April (12.15 pm kick-off) will go on sale online and at Pittodrie Stadium to season ticket holders and shareholders (those with a minimum of 260 from the original allocation) from 9 am this Saturday 24th March, with a maximum of two tickets per eligible supporter. The ticket office will close at 5.30 p.m.

These top priority groups will have until close of business (5 p.m.) on Saturday 31st March to purchase their tickets with a general sale operating from 9 a.m. on Monday 2nd April.

Aberdeen have been given an initial allocation of 12,500 tickets with prices for the North Stand being £23 for adults. The Club has also been allocated the West Stand with prices at £15 for adults and £5 for Under 16’s in the family section. Postal applications will be accepted.

Supporters are also urged to retain their tickets from the SPL match against Inverness Caley Thistle on the 24th March, the game with Dundee United on Saturday 7th April and post-split home games as, in the event of Aberdeen reaching the final, a voucher system will operate.

In light of the early kick off, Pittodrie Stadium will be closed on Saturday 14th April.

For info – Dave Macdermid – 07710 580148 – dave.macdermid@bigpartnership.co.uk

Dunfermline 3 Aberdeen 3 – East End Park 26.11.11

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Nov 282011

This match really underlined how the sport of football can toy with the emotions of its followers. At half time Dunfermline would have bitten off hands for a point, but in the end it was Aberdeen who felt relieved to snatch a share – and yet, both teams will feel as if they could or should have won the game. Philip Sim reports.

The Dons undoubtedly controlled more of the match and created a greater quantity and quality of chances, but it was the home side who somehow found themselves 3-1 ahead – and indeed, it could have been 4-1 if not for a terrific save from visiting keeper David Gonzalez.

Ten minutes of madness at the back soured what had been developing into a decent Aberdeen performance.
It’s little consolation that the Dons have now quadrupled their away goals tally for the season, as they remain rooted second-bottom of the SPL.

Aberdeen’s back line will come in for some deserved criticism after an all-too familiar second-half collapse, but special mention once again has to go to Andrew Considine, arguably his team’s most effective performer this season. The centre half has looked solid in defence and has popped up with vital goals several times already this term, and it was hardly a surprise that he broke the deadlock.

The fact a defender can be so lauded in a team which is shipping so many goals speaks to the nature of this match – while undoubtedly an entertaining affair, it was as laden with negatives as positives. While Aberdeen found themselves trailing 3-1 to a team who haven’t won a home match all season, they then showed great character and resolve to come back and tie the match, and came within inches of a winner in the final seconds.

Craig Brown will again point to his side’s statistical superiority, and while it’s true that the Dons largely bossed the first half, made plenty of chances and won endless corners, all too often they showed profligacy in front of goal. Josh Magennis was the main offender, missing four good chances including an open goal before he finally netted the late equaliser.

A cutting edge up front has been Aberdeen’s key failing this season, and a quick glance at the SPL’s top scorers confirms this – Scott Vernon just makes it the top 15, while Inverness, the only team separating the Dons from bottom of the league, have both Andrew Shinnie and Gregory Tade.

Beyond the striking issues and occasional defensive standstill, the result points out how fragile Aberdeen are, looking distinctly makeshift after losing just a few players to injury. Kari Arnason would be badly missed from any midfield in the country, but really it was Scott Vernon’s absence that hurt the Dons here.

With Rory Fallon withdrawn presumably due to injury after an anonymous first half and Mo Chalali off on international duty – still the only situation where he has actually scored a goal – the absence of Vernon leaves Aberdeen with a front duo of Magennis and Darren Mackie. This is not a pairing which will strike fear into the hearts of many SPL defenders, especially given the scant service they tend to receive – Richard Foster remains the team’s only source of width, given the uninspiring form of eternal substitute Peter Pawlett.

Brown and indeed many of the supporters might be looking forward to the January transfer window and a strengthening of the squad, but there are six more games to be negotiated before then.

Depending on whether your glass is half full or half empty (discounting the rather vocal minority of fans who broke their glass and went home in a huff at 3-1) these six are all winnable games in a league as evenly balanced as the SPL outside of the Old Firm. On the empty-glass relegation-dogfight hand, maybe a point away from home against a fellow struggler is a decent result – but this was the type of game that Aberdeen really need to look to win if they are going to build a move up the table.

Dons Go Out On Penalties Following Extra Time Stalemate.

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Sep 202011

Aberdeen 3 – East Fife 3 – East Fife win 4-3 on penalties – 20/9/11

This latest embarrassment will not be altogether unfamiliar to those who sat through similar capitulations against Queen of the South, Queens Park, Dunfermline and Raith Rovers, or even the European humblings against Bohemians and Sigma Olomouc. Philip Sim reports.

It’s got to the point where it’s not even surprising any more. On each occasion Aberdeen appear poised to take a step forward, they take two backward.

No matter how many times it happens, it still hurts. So what went wrong? There was a lot more to this result than East Fife’s goalkeeper saving more penalties than Gonzalez for Aberdeen.

One attempt at an excuse is that it was a weakened Aberdeen team. Craig Brown has apologised for making wholesale changes to a side that played relatively well at the weekend – but many of them actually made sense.

David Gonzalez returned to the side after missing the weekend encounter with Kilmarnock due to his wife going into labour, and the return of the first-choice goalkeeper can hardly be said to have weakened the team.

That said, he looked distinctly flat footed at East Fife’s second goal although some would argue that Jason Brown would not have been tall enough to reach Matthew Park’s lob in any case.

Scott Vernon and Darren Mackie were partnered in attack – Brown’s tried and tested front duo – and while it’s debatable whether they have passed that test at least both of them have scored this season. By contrast, Mohamed Chalali has not scored at club level.

Indeed, after Vernon and Mackie were withdrawn for Chalali and Rory Fallon, the Dons seemed to struggle even more to find the way to goal. Only Josh Magennis looked lively – if not particularly dangerous. He found shooting space quite often but invariably shot straight at Mark Ridgers in the visitors goal.

Of the other changes, only Youl Mawene and Isaac Osbourne were missed as Rob Milsom’s recent form, Saturday’s game against Kilmarnock in particular, scarcely merited him a place in the side.

In any case, shouldn’t any eleven players on the first team books at Pittodrie be able to dispatch a side bottom of the second division?

Does this mean that Aberdeen’s second string players are not even second division standard?

To be fair, the Dons did fairly batter the Fifers’ goal. The home side recorded 25 shots on goal. However, too many were driven straight into Ridgers’ arms or sent tamely wide or over the bar. The Dons showed a complete inability to break their opponents down, often shooting from outside the box or even further afield.

Fair play to East Fife. They capitalised on the only three chances they had in the match. That Aberdeen scored the same number of goals from more than eight times the chances is testament to how poor the Dons’ finishing is at the moment.

Almost as much of a worry is the defence, a supposedly SPL standard defence which shipped three goals to a second division side. Oddly enough, Andrew Considine actually had a pretty good game at centre half, and while Rory McArdle didn’t look quite as composed, especially with the ball at his feet, he at least popped up with a goal. Aberdeen’s problems were at full-back.

Strangely this was the first game of the season that Aberdeen have started with two recognised full-backs in that position, rather than having midfielders or centre-backs fill in at one or both. Chris Clark played the majority of his games at Plymouth as a right-back, while left back is Ricky Foster’s strongest position – although Foster himself might argue otherwise. Despite this, the two looked completely and utterly clueless in defence.

Perhaps they were too focussed on going forward – both spent much of the game in the opposition half, swinging in crosses which never quite reached anyone. Whatever the reason, they provided absolutely no defensive cover. Foster usually bails out the centre-backs with his pace – against East Fife, Considine actually had to come to his captain’s rescue on several occasions. Clark looked weak. He dithered pathetically while the Fifers scored their third, and while he thumped into one or two tackles impressively he wimped out of far more.

After a similarly hopeless displays against Hibs and Kilmarnock, the Red Army will be beginning to wonder what happened to Clark while he was in England – and precisely why he’s been signed to a three year contract. It was no surprise to anyone in the stadium when it was he who missed the final fatal penalty.

The biggest failure was one of belief. As the second half wore on it became increasingly clear that the heads had gone down, and that the Aberdeen players simply did not believe they could win the game back. They were out fought and out thought by a team which lost 6-0 at home to Dumbarton a few weeks previously.

Maybe sometimes there has to be a shock result – a giant-killing – as these things simply happen in football. But why do they always seem to happen to Aberdeen?
Another year, another humiliation, and once again the Red Army are left with more questions than answers about just where their club is headed.

Aberdeen 2 Kilmarnock 2 – Pittodrie Stadium 17/9/11

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Sep 182011

Last week’s debacle at Easter Road raised the question of whether Aberdeen and Hibs were bottom of the league because they were playing badly, or if they were playing badly because they were bottom of the league. The question might be answered in that this weekend, against teams in the top six, both sides played out highly entertaining 2-2 draws. Philip Sim reports from Pittodrie.

The Dons might justifiably feel they should have won their match with Kilmarnock, but the fact they trailed 2-0 after half an hour will leave the Red Army more positive about the result.

Aberdeen dictated much of the proceedings, winning a string of corners and creating chances early on, but despite the home side’s dominance it was the visitors who took an advantage into the interval by scoring with their only two attempts of the half.
The Dons showed resilience to come back from two goals down, and pressed hard to find a winner in the closing stages.

At the outset, many of last week’s questionable tactics remained in place – Kari Arnason, the most composed player in Aberdeen’s overstaffed central midfield, was again deployed needlessly at centre back, pushing Andrew Considine out to left back. Another midfielder, Ryan Jack, featured at right-back, while full-back Ricky Foster was played on the left wing. The other wide position was filled by central midfielder Fraser Fyvie.

Jack and Arnason are convincing near enough wherever they play, but Fyvie is not a winger, nor is Considine a full-back. And what is there to gain by pushing Foster forward into midfield? He looks fine bombing forward to the byline to get a cross in, but when he cuts inside he looks rather lost and confused. All of the good things he does from left midfield he was doing anyway from left-back, as well as using his pace to cover the defence. Moving him into midfield only serves to shuffle other players around to compensate.

Despite being played out of position, big Andrew Considine played out of his skin. While he still displays all the characteristics of a centre half – strong physically on or off the ball, good in the air – he also showed great attacking intent, thundering forward at every opportunity and whipping in some excellent crosses.

His goal was brilliantly taken, especially given it was with his weaker right foot, a finish that few of the Dons front line could have conjured in the current drought.

That said, the Dons featured an all-new strike pairing against Killie, with Rory Fallon and Mohamed Chalali both handed their first start in a red shirt.

Chalali showed good intent with some direct running at the visitor’s defence, and while Fallon won everything in the air the pair didn’t quite click as a partnership. Too often the Algerian directed his runs the wrong way to meet the Kiwi’s flicks, and after being moved out to the wing it was little surprise when Chalali was hooked at half time for the ultimately equally ineffective Peter Pawlett.

Fallon looked the part as a traditional target man, something the Dons have lacked this season, and almost gave his side the lead with a second-half header which rebounded back off the crossbar. This came after he was ludicrously booked in the first half by referee Iain Brines, supposedly for simulation – while the challenge in question may not have merited a penalty award, it certainly wasn’t a dive.

Brines gave Fallon absolutely nothing all afternoon, leading some to speculate that the whistler’s wife may have run off with a Kiwi.

In a way Craig Brown should thank Brines for his blunder, as that was the turning point in the match – after the second Killie goal, the heads had gone down, and it was only after the penalty controversy that the Dons looked fired up and hungry for vengeance.

Aside from the defensive lapses for the goals – one a missed header by Youl Mawene, who made amends by heading the equaliser, the other an instance of the entire midfield going to sleep at once – the main disappointment for Aberdeen was the attendance, a paltry seven and a half thousand. Although perhaps thanks to the quality of the match and the questionable officiating, the crowd produced one of the best atmospheres Pittodrie has seen this season.

The dwindling gates might have more to do with the accumulated horrors of the last couple of seasons than Aberdeen’s performances this term, but Brown‘s side could get the numbers heading in the right direction with a couple of wins.

Hopefully a good performance against lowly East Fife in the cup next week will generate some interest in the next home match, an experimental Friday night encounter with Dunfermline, and get the faithful flocking back to Pittodrie.

Aberdeen 0 Hibs 0 – Easter Road Stadium 11/9/11

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Sep 122011

Sometimes nil-nil can be a deceptive scoreline, masking an exciting encounter between two evenly-matched sides. Sometimes, though, there are simply no goals because neither team is good enough to score any. This was a match almost completely devoid of incident, a scrappy bottom of the table snooze-fest from which neither team even deserved a point. Philip Sim reports from Easter Road.

The grim performance on the pitch induced a funereal atmosphere in the stands, as it slowly dawned on supporters of both sides that they’d just paid in excess of twenty pounds to be bored and depressed.

You could be forgiven for initially assuming that at this stage of the season, Aberdeen and Hibs are in false positions at the bottom of the SPL.

However on Sunday’s evidence the position is more than deserved – few teams in the league could conspire to serve up such dire, uninspiring fare.

At times the game was a comedy of errors – an Aberdeen player would walk the ball straight out of play, only for his Hibernian counterpart to send the throw-in straight back to a red shirt, inevitably ending in another aimless long-ball to no-one in particular. An actual football team could have run riot against either side.

The Dons lined up in a less than ambitious 4-5-1 formation. Really, such a formation should see a team dominate the midfield, but Aberdeen rarely managed to string three passes together in the middle of the park, let alone control it. Isaac Osbourne was effective as usual in spoiling opposition play, but Fraser Fyvie and Rob Milsom appeared completely incapable of retaining possession. Ricky Foster’s pace and drive down the left provided a few meagre highlights, but on the other flank Chris Clark put in an absolutely dreadful performance, with the Dons looking characteristically short on width or creativity.

The failings of the five were compounded by those of the one, with lone striker Scott Vernon looking increasingly isolated and starved of service. In a functional 4-5-1 the midfield is supposed to push forward to support the striker, maybe turn into a 4-3-3 when attacking, but the Dons showed little offensive invention or ambition save the occasional foray forward from Fyvie.

Vernon is a penalty-box striker, not a target man. He is not the man to win flick-ons or hold the ball up for his team-mates – he’s a finisher, not a creator.

He prefers to play facing the goal, rather than with his back to it, so in short he could not be less suited to the lone striker role. This does not however explain why he spent two thirds of the game at Easter Road offside.

At the other end of the park, Hibs had more of the ball but offered few real threats, mostly being restricted to long-range efforts. Garry O’Connor conspired to make Youll Mawene look quick, and what the Hibs front line conjured up was easily dealt with by David Gonzalez.

The home side’s toothless attack is one of the reasons they’re bottom of the league, so really there was no need to move Kari Arnason back into defence. He strolled through the game as usual, and his composure and presence could have made a huge difference to the Dons midfield, which was relatively transparent throughout. Moving the Icelander to centre back meant shuffling Considine out to left-back, and with Rory McArdle in the other full-back position there was never a hope of any attacking ambition from the full-back position.

By contrast when Hibs came forward down the flanks they often outnumbered the visitors’ defence, because their full-backs were willing to overlap and leave their own half.

To be fair to Considine and McArdle, neither of them are full-backs, and neither can be blamed for their manager’s decision to play them there. Meanwhile, the players in the Aberdeen squad who have looked reasonably exciting in recent weeks – Josh Magennis and Peter Pawlett – were left on the bench, and only introduced after the game had settled into a coma.

Seven games of the season gone, then, and Aberdeen have still only scored in one of them. The complaints remain the same, of width, creativity and attacking ambition, while the excuses grow thinner by the game – the return to the bench of Yoann Folly heralds the last of the team’s injury worries, and the squad has had ample time to gel.

Other teams who have undergone similarly large rebuilding jobs over the summer have settled much more quickly – fourth placed Kilmarnock and SPL new boys Dunfermline for example. With former Plymouth striker Rory Fallon reportedly offered a contract, Brown obviously recognises the shortcomings of his side, but patience in the stands is beginning to run thin – the Dons need to start producing results soon.

Rangers 2 Aberdeen 0 – Ibrox Stadium 28/8/11

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Aug 292011

Defeats at Ibrox are becoming rather run of the mill for Aberdeen, and while words like “spirited” and “plucky” will be attributed to the Dons’ performance today, many fans will be wondering why their side waited until the second half to show any attacking ambition. Philip Sim reports.

Aberdeen are yet to score on their travels in the SPL this season and in the first half didn’t look likely to change that record. They lined up with a rather negative, defensive 4-5-1 formation despite the recent woes of their opponents.
Even with a five man midfield there was precious little width, with Rob Milsom and Ryan Jack deployed on the flanks.

The Dons had plenty of the ball in the opening period, often stringing together sequences of ten or more passes across the middle of the park, making the extra man count, but attacks broke down almost before they’d even got as far as lone striker Scott Vernon.

While they did prove difficult to break down – David Gonzalez barely touched the ball other than to pick Steven Davis’ 15th minute opener out of the net – they offered absolutely nothing going forward, not even drawing a save from Allan McGregor in the hosts goal in the first half.

The introduction of Peter Pawlett for Jack in at half time introduced pace and width to what had been a dour game for the first time, and there was almost an immediate impact. Scott Vernon raced clear seconds after the restart but was forced wide by McGregor.

Pawlett then burst free down the left and laid back for McArdle to cross, and McGregor pulled off a fantastic full-stretch save to prevent Carlos Bocanegra’s looping header going in as an own goal. Ricky Foster – who spent last season on loan at Ibrox – hurled himself onto the rebound but his diving header came back off the crossbar. Fraser Fyvie and Kari Arnason both fired in efforts from range as the Dons put the hosts under the cosh.

After Dons boss Craig Brown introduced new signing Mohamed Chalali for defender Rory McArdle, Rangers responded by moving to a more defensive formation akin to that the visitors adopted in the first half, dropping Bedoya into midfield. It was they who now benefited from having an extra man in the middle, Chalali having joined Josh Magennis in the Dons attack, and this was telling from the way Pawlett and Fyvie faded from the game. Isaac Osbourne was still winning every 50-50 ball and many more, but his side struggled to find space to craft an opening.

Aberdeen’s control over the game faltered as Rangers looked to close it out at 1 – 0. They were gifted a scarcely deserved second right at the death courtesy of David Gonzalez, who fumbled a powerful Davis free-kick loose into the box for Steven Naismith to tap home.

This added a little more gloss to the result than the hosts merited, having looked increasingly beleaguered since half time.

Once again Aberdeen can take heart from their performance in portions of the game, and the result flatters Rangers to an extent as they were not the better side by a clear two goal margin. But Craig Brown needs to learn lessons from this – his team have only ever performed for half of a game so far this season, and this has rarely produced results. They have shown themselves capable of playing good football, but are unable to produce this with any consistency.

With the SPL taking a break for international matches next week, this is a good time to take stock. The squad is beginning to gel well and the new signings – Osbourne and Arnason in particular, although Mawene was also solid at Ibrox – look a distinct improvement on those they replaced.

However there is still a real lack of width in the team, and it appears that Mohamed Chalali has been signed as an out-and-out striker. If a wide man – a left-footed version of Peter Pawlett, if possible – isn’t a priority before the transfer window closes, then Brown needs to better utilise the personnel that he has. His side have been at their best in recent fixtures when stretching other teams, going at them with width and pace, but the team is seldom set up to do that.

Every game this season, the complaints have been the same – width, creativity, finishing, and consistency – if Aberdeen were to play for 90 minutes the way they have in half-hour spells against Rangers, Hearts and Inverness, they would have a lot more than four points on the board right now. The team undoubtedly has a solid base with plenty to build on there, but as things stand it remains some way from being a finished product.

Aberdeen 1 Dundee 0 – Pittodrie Stadium 23/08/11

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Aug 242011

Most teams would greet a tie against lower-league opposition in the cup as a good thing, but a series of embarrassing upsets in recent years have left Aberdeen fans rather wary when facing smaller sides. As a result they will gleefully accept any kind of win in these circumstances, even by the narrowest of margins – and that is precisely what their team produced here. Philip Sim reports from Pittodrie.

The Dons looked comfortable without ever really impressing, and should have had it in them to find the second goal which would have killed the game.
They are creating a lot more chances than during the early-season goal drought, but finishing remains poor.

Josh Magennis, Darren Mackie and Ryan Jack all missed first-half chances, while Kari Arnason saw his long-range drive well saved.
The Dons seemed at their best when going at the Dundee defence at pace, something the front pairing of Mackie and Magennis have in abundance, and this is how they carved out the best chances of the game.

The solitary goal of the tie was well-taken by the much-maligned Darren Mackie, turning on Chris Clark’s knockdown from a Peter Pawlett cross before firing high into the net past veteran Dee’s keeper Rab Douglas.

Pawlett looked lively for much of the first half, speeding past his marker with ease time and time again and even drawing a save from Douglas, but the young winger appeared subdued after being floored by a flying elbow from Gary Irvine.

That attack went completely unpunished by referee John McKendrick, who did little to endear himself to the home support with a succession of bizarre decisions. There seemed to be a fundamental lack of consistency from the whistler, who as chair of the referees’ union was instrumental in winning officials a pay rise over the summer.

As with the weekend win over Inverness, the Dons faded somewhat in the second half, after a fashion appearing content to hold out and defend their narrow lead. Craig Brown’s hand was forced somewhat tactically when he had to replace first Arnason and then Clark due to injury – Clark’s in particular looking serious, a real worry for a player who was making his first start after an injury lay-off.

Aberdeen’s play after the forced changes lacked any of the fluency shown in flashes in the first half.

In the middle of the park in particular they lacked composure, rarely dwelling on the ball, always looking to fire forward long passes for Mackie and Magennis to chase. Fraser Fyvie did his best to fill in the Arnason/Milsom role of midfield creator, but still doesn’t look nearly as sharp as he did prior to his serious injury last season – hopefully this will come with time and games.

Ricky Foster’s pace again caused problems for the opposition, and he actually had a second-half goal disallowed for offside after smashing home a Pawlett drive which came off the post. His running and that of Pawlett and Jack, supporting the pace of Mackie and Magennis, gave the Dons good width at times, but the supply from the centre was inconsistent despite the typically strong tackling and defensive play of Osbourne.

Dundee by contrast never looked entirely likely to put the ball in the net.

Although the Division One side had plenty of the ball in the second half in particular and applied substantial pressure on the Dons rearguard, debutant goalkeeper Jason Brown only had two saves of note to make. Graham Bayne gave Andy Considine a torrid time fighting for headers, but the Dee’s never seriously troubled Brown’s clean sheet, with most of their opportunities restricted to long-range efforts.

The Pittodrie faithful – the paltry 5,722 of them – were given the first opportunity to see new Dons signing Mohamed Chalali, after the Algerian U23 captain replaced Clark on the hour mark. He showed good pace and willingness to run directly at defenders, but fluffed the two chances he was presented with badly. To be fair, he had flown overnight from Greece to take part in the match, so only the most hardened cynics in the support will be leaping to judge him already.

A win is a win, at the end of the day, and Aberdeen can advance into the next round of the cup with some confidence that the lower-league hoodoo has been put to bed at last. It may be at a steep price, depending on the severity of the injuries to Clark and Arnason, but it seems hopeful now that the Dons can build on the weekend win against Inverness and get their season underway at last.

Aberdeen 2, Inverness Caley 1 – Pittodrie Stadium 20/8/11

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Aug 202011

At long last, a goal and a win for the Dons – but they made hard work for themselves in a match they should have had wrapped up by the interval. Philip Sim reports from Pittodrie.

This was the classical game of two halves.

In the opening period Aberdeen were unplayable, zipping passes around, winning every 50-50 ball and racing forward at every opportunity.
Josh Magennis in particular was an absolute dynamo, running the Inverness defence ragged, and it was he who created Rob Milsom’s opening goal, which was greeted with relief bordering on delirium by the Pittodrie faithful.
Scott Vernon’s goal was well-taken too, although it was put on a plate for him by hapless Caley debutant Roman Golobart.

The Dons got a lucky break in referee Crawford Allan’s frankly bizarre decision to pull play back for an Inverness free-kick just as Jonny Hayes put the ball in the net, but on balance they were good value for their two-goal advantage at the interval and indeed could have scored a few more.

It seemed like a completely different Aberdeen team that came out for the second half. They seemed hesitant – nervous even.

Inverness did not have to fight particularly hard to find a way back into the game – indeed, they could have pulled a goal back earlier than they did. David Gonzalez seems to have a tendency to race out of his box after balls he can’t possibly get to, and only a fantastic sliding block from Ricky Foster spared the keeper’s blushes when he was lobbed by Hayes.

The big Colombian made amends with a couple of good stops from Foran and Hayes, but this only underlines the defensive frailties the Dons were displaying – Youl Mawene in particular had near enough ground to a halt. The Frenchman looked to be injured, always reaching for his hamstring, and he gifted Caley their goal when he chose to head the ball tamely into the path of Foran when it looked far easier to just boot it clear.

It was no surprise when he limped off to be replaced by McArdle, but if the change had been made earlier the Dons might have preserved their clean sheet.

Foran’s goal didn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone at Pittodrie, as the Dons had looked increasingly tame after the rampant Magennis was withdrawn on 67 minutes for Megginson.

What the big Irishman lacks in touch and composure he more than makes up for in sheer enthusiasm and determination – he made the opening goal with his strength, pace and aggressive running. He is in a word unconventional – he is a nightmare to defend against, as you can never entirely sure what he’ll do next.

Once he had gone off, though, Megginson and Vernon struggled to hold the ball up at all, giving the defence and midfield little respite. Caley grew into the game and were camped in the Dons half throughout the agonising final minutes.

Width was again a problem, with Brown persisting with his Tynecastle experiment of Fyvie and Milsom on the wings. Milsom put in a terrific shift and was well worth his goal, but he appears somewhat stifled out wide, always looking to cut inside and find space. The same was true of Fyvie, who looked off the pace throughout.

In contrast, Ricky Foster’s pace was electric, and on several occasions he burned past multiple opponents to set up chances for his side – indeed, at times he was frustrated that his team-mates couldn’t keep up with him as he surged forward.

He demonstrated the value of having a proper wide player with pace – it can be a game-changer, and this is why Brown will be praying that he can get Peter Pawlett fit, and keep him fit.

With so few options on the flanks, the game was won in the middle of the park.

The credit for this has to go to Isaac Osbourne, easily the man of the match. He fought a 90-minute war of attrition with the entire Caley midfield, and a few of the Highlanders will be having nightmares about him tonight.

His hard work and tough tackling gave his partner Kari Arnason licence to play the ball, and the Icelander looked composed throughout as he sprayed passes around. It helps that he’s also a man-monster, albeit not quite on the Osbourne scale, but it’s nigh on impossible to knock him off the ball.

So Aberdeen’s season is finally underway, and encouragingly they’re still not that far off the pace; the league table is yet to settle, with Motherwell sitting top prior to the visit of Rangers on Sunday, with Dunfermline and a resurgent St Mirren contesting the European places.

At close of play on Saturday, traditional top-six challengers Hearts, Dundee United and Hibs all join the Dons in the bottom six, so there is not a huge amount of ground to make up. This win should hopefully kick-start the Dons’ league campaign, and build some momentum for the league cup tie with Dundee on Tuesday.

Hearts 3 Aberdeen 0 – Tynecastle Stadium 13/8/11

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Aug 142011

It’s only August, and it seems like it’s been a very long season already. Another game gone, and once again the story is in the score line – particularly that “Aberdeen nil” part. Philip Sim reports.

You can’t argue with the league table; the goals for column remains bare, while an extra three are added to goals against. Only the continuing haplessness of Inverness Caley Thistle separates the Dons from the foot of the table, and that’s only on goal difference.

The strange thing is, Aberdeen actually dominated this game for much of the first half. Darren Mackie and Scott Vernon both threatened with headers, while the ever impressive Kari Arnason thumped the crossbar before drilling a shot from distance wide with Kello in the hosts’ goal scrambling.

The lack of a composed finishing touch was the crucial difference between the sides though, as Hearts seized their only two chances to somehow lead 2-0 at the interval.

Then, ten minutes into the second half, summer recruit John Sutton added his second and Hearts’ third, and killed the game. The Aberdeen defence switched off three times which allowed their opponents three shots on target, and the match was over.

For the remaining 35 minutes, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Hearts were happy enough to sit in their own half passing the ball back and forth, and Aberdeen appeared utterly unable to do anything about it. Whatever Brown did to change things up, however he shuffled the pack – including the introduction of Pawlett, Jack and Magennis – the Dons looked completely incapable of putting the ball in the net.

From the outset the visitors lacked width.

With monsters like Jonsson and Zaliukas at its heart, the home defence regard imposing target men as appetisers – and Aberdeen don’t even have one of those. Playing through the centre was highly unlikely to yield results, but with Fyvie and Milsom on the flanks and Rory McArdle at the right full-back position – all players far more comfortable in the centre – the only naturally wide player in the Dons side was Ricky Foster. By the time Pawlett was introduced at half time, the game was already lost.

The worrying thing is how short on excuses the Dons manager is running. This week saw the return of Mawene, Fyvie and Clark from injury and Ryan Jack from suspension, and for once the bench looked reasonably strong – Clark, Pawlett, Jack and Magennis representing players who could actually stand a chance of coming on and changing the game. In the end though, the effect was the same as the old bench of youngsters, in that the substitutes had no effect whatsoever.

This is not a time to just wait and hope the strikers suddenly click

Alright, so Tynecastle is a difficult place to go and pick up your first points of the season. Hearts have by far the third biggest budget in the league – no matter how unsustainable or hinged upon the whims of a madman it may be – and despite their recent poor form, were always favourites to win this game.

Aberdeen need to pick up a win and get their season started somewhere, and before they can get a win, believe it or not, they’re going to need to get at least one goal.

Craig Brown insists, publicly at least, that he’s happy with the strikers he has. Obviously there’s no point in shattering the already fragile confidence of the mis-firing front line, but this squarely where the team’s problem lies right now.

If you can’t put the ball in the net, you’re not going to win any games, no matter how strongly the rest of the team is set up. This is not a time to just wait and hope the strikers suddenly click.

Vernon and Mackie have started every game this term, and while it’s good for their confidence that the manager appears to have some faith in his chosen pairing, it’s becoming clear that he also has precious few other options. Josh Magennis has all the enthusiasm in the world, but he badly needs to work on his composure, and Michael Paton hasn’t scored a competitive goal since February 2010.

It’s a theme as repetitive as Aberdeen’s inability to score, but they really, really need to sign a striker. And next on the shopping list has to be a wide player, preferably left-footed, who can create chances as well as score some of his own…but of course, neither of these things grow on trees.

If the Dons can take anything from this match, it’s that the new away kit, on show for the first time, looks great. And…that’s about it. The next fixture, a home tie against bottom side Caley Thistle, is starting to look like a six-pointer already.

Aberdeen 0 Celtic 1 – Pittodrie Stadium 07/08/11

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Aug 082011

Three games into the SPL season, and Aberdeen are still to score. We’re not quite at the Andy Dow stage yet – the man who famously scored the Dons’ first goal of the 1999/2000 season in late September, during their seventh consecutive defeat – but it’s certainly starting to feel like it. Philip Sim reports from Pittodrie.

Despite the continuing abject lack of joy up front, this was actually quite a spirited performance from the men in red. It was a vast improvement not only on last week’s capitulation in Paisley, but also on every encounter with Celtic last season.

We have been assured repeatedly through the close season that Craig Brown was building a team which wouldn’t fall apart when faced by Celtic, who averaged more than five goals a game against the Dons last term. The cumulative score across the season was 21-1.

This should not be the case this year; while Aberdeen may have lost this match, at the very least they went down fighting.

One feature of last season which did crop up was one of Mark McGhee’s constant post-match refrains, of individual errors costing games. Had Ricky Foster not been caught in possession by Kris Commons – the very man Aberdeen captain had succeeded in subduing for the previous 73 minutes – the game seemed destined for a goalless stalemate. The Dons had looked resolute, sitting extremely deep but refusing to be broken down.

Right up to the goal you could almost physically see the confidence of the Aberdeen players grow, as they began to break out of their own half and start to compete at the other end, but they were seriously deflated by the goal.

The Dons had been chasing the game so, so hard. Osbourne and Milsom ran their hearts out in the centre of the park, always chasing and harrying, never giving their opponents a quiet moment. Arnason and Considine both looked solid and assured at centre half, and indeed while the stats will show a large number of Celtic attempts on goal, the majority of them were hopeful efforts from distance which rarely troubled Gonzalez.

Once the goal had gone in and the legs had begun to tire, another familiar problem kicked in for the home side. Squad depth.

Once again the bench was staffed entirely with inexperienced youngsters, offering little chance for Brown to change the game with a substitution. Meanwhile, almost a full bench of first-teamers was sat at the back of the main stand in Langfield, Clark, Folly, Fyvie, Jack and Mawene, and while their return can’t come quick enough, Craig Brown still needs to sign a creative attacker. Someone who can change games.

Peter Pawlett had his moments once again and is undoubtedly a huge talent

While industry was no problem for the Dons attack, with Mackie, Magennis and Pawlett running themselves into the ground, it still seems to lack a cutting edge. Scott Vernon proved himself to be a good finisher last season, but all too often here he was left in a fruitless aerial battle against Celtic’s mastodonic captain for the day, Majstorovic.

Whenever he tried to bring the ball down and hold it up, he found himself besieged by hooped jerseys, and ultimately Aberdeen had no release point.

Vernon is at his best when he’s playing facing the opposition goal, alongside an energetic, creative player who can make chances for both of them. He needs service, but it’s hard to see where that is going to come from in the current Aberdeen team. Peter Pawlett had his moments once again and is undoubtedly a huge talent, but the entire burden cannot be laid at his door – the youngster spent most of last season sidelined with injury, and can’t be expected to carry the team just yet.

Craig Brown’s most likely avenue of recruitment is to snap up loan players who don’t make the cut for English Premiership squads, but those squads won’t be decided until the end of the month. Can Aberdeen afford to write off the rest of the month without a real goal-scoring threat, trusting that the rest of the pack won’t build up an insurmountable a points tally?

The last word on the latest in what is becoming a long line of defeats actually against Celtic roughly mirrors the outlook from the opening match against St Johnstone – quite a solid, spirited performance, but disappointed not to have taken more from the game. Once again, against the context of last season’s horrors, it’s a recipe for cautious optimism.

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