Scottish Cup 5th Round Round-up
By: TheNorthernLight |
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In todays 5th Round Scottish Cup games, the results pretty much went with the form teams.
First Division leaders Dundee advanced to the quarter-finals, though they had to come from behind to beat Ayr United (2-1). Hibernian, currently hard on the heels of Celtic for that Champions League spot won comfortably against a Montrose side that decided to not just park the bus in front of the goal, setting out their stall to have a real go at Hibs. It was not to be though, as goals from Benjelloun, Riordan, two from Colin Nish and new boy Alan Gow finished off the basement boys from Division Three (5-1). Jimmy Calderwood wins his second game as Kilmarnock manager in a row, his side easing comfortably past Inverness Caley (3-0). David Goodwillie scored to put Dundee United through to the quarter-finals; he struck the only goal of their game against St Johnstone off the underside of the bar on the stroke of half-time (0-1).
Rangers, the current holders of the Scottish Cup where held to a goalless draw against St Mirren in Paisley. From all accounts, Rangers had a tough game, with Madjid Bougherra and Allan McGregor doing their best to keep St Mirren at bay, and themselves in the Cup (0-0).
The shock result of the day came up in Dingwall, where Ross County trashed hapless Stirling Albion by nine goals to nil, inflicting on the Beanos their biggest loss since the 7-0 demolition at the hands of Raith Rovers back in February 1968; Gary Wood scored a hat-trick in that game (9-0).
Celtic play Dunfermline tomorrow, with Rangers and St Mirren, and Aberdeen and Raith Rovers in action next week in their replays.
Category: Team News
Dancing on the streets of Raith
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
So there I was, up the town, being slightly distracted by what’s going on around me as I’m trying to find out by how many goals Aberdeen are leading Raith Rovers. Checking the Sky Sports Score Center for the Aberdeen score on my phone, it was hard getting a signal, and the score took forever to appear. I believe I was halfway down the frozen food section of my local superstore when I finally got a connection. Raith 1, Aberdeen 0, it said. “Fuck” I said. Rather loudly.
Within three minutes of the final whistle having gone at Stark’s Park and the score still seemingly at 1-0 to Raith, I had an article written in my head, the title of which compared manager Mark McGhee to one of those things you find at the top of women’s legs and the rest of the squad to an assortment of items you’d find in books about reproductive gynaecology. But I calmed down when someone told me via Twitter that Gary McDonald had equalized for Aberdeen in the 95th minute. So I calmed down, came home and wrote this article instead.
On the positive side, we’re still in the Cup. Plus, since we’re still in the Cup, this result doesn’t qualify as a Cupset and as we’ve not had a Cupset today it means that it’s going to come tomorrow when Dunfermline take on Celtic. The other positive was our travelling support, with some three thousand-odd making the trip south. Considering there where only five-thousand at the St Mirren-Rangers game today, it was certainly something to be proud of.
On the downside, the inconsistency continues. Against Raith Rovers we had the lion’s share of possesion, we had marginally more shots on targets and had more corners. But like our defeats against Motherwell and Falkirk, Aberdeen conceded a goal against the run of play (a defensive error, Jerel Ifil’s header not clearing the danger) and lacked the imagination or the firepower to do anything about it – all that possession doesn’t mean anything unless you can put the ball in the back of the net.
I don’t care what anyone says and neither do I care, nor accept, whatever excuses McGhee will invent for this disgraceful performance. The facts: Raith Rovers are a First Division side (and not even a good one at that), Aberdeen are an SPL side (though not a good one), so a victory, even 1-0 would not have been an unreasonable expection. But for a team that’s made a name for itself in recent years as one that slips up against lower league opposition, the result was possibly not too unexpected given recent results.
We said in yesterdays preview that things have got to change. They certainly do, and quickly, because you have to wonder how long the Aberdeen support will remain behind McGhee and the team, as frustration builds after each game.
There’s nothing wrong with our defence. We’ve got a good goalkeeper. With Diamond back in the middle of the park, we have organisation. And there’s nothing wrong with conceding a goal – as long as you score one more than the opposition, you’re going to win the league; to quote Tony D’Amato in “Any Given Sunday”, that’s football guys, that’s all it is.
Aberdeen need a consistent goalscorer. Lee Miller was through at Pittodrie, his attitude and disciplinary record hinting at an unhappy player. He never looked like the player that scored 12 goals last season or 13 the season before that. Mackie, though hard working is having a terrible time of it lately. The Steven MacLean we need to see is the Steven MacLean from season 2002/03 when he scored 20 goals for Sheffield Wednesday, and not the Plymouth Steven MacLean who had a largely forgettable season. He’s not an on-form striker which is bad news for the Dons who desperately needs the goals and the wins to make sure we even make the league split in April. Our midfield desperately needs a shake-up. After a reasonably good season last year, Kerr and McDonald seemed to have taken a dramatic drop in form and confidence, with poor passing and a total lack of imagination and confidence when in possession.
Yes, Aberdeen are still in the Cup – for now. With games against Hibs, Celtic, Falkirk and Hearts to come in the next few weeks, the Dons need a boost to take them through those tricky fixtures, games the outcome of which may well end McGhee’s hopes of European football next season.
Let’s hope that comes next Wednesday in the replay.
Preview: Raith Rovers v Aberdeen
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
Back in the day when an Aberdeen appearance in a Scottish Cup final was a reasonably regular occurrence, the prospect of playing some lower Division canon-fodder was generally greeted in the same manner that the owner of an abattoir welcomes another delivery of mangy cows and sheep to his premises. We’d hack and slice our way through our hapless opponents in a determined, if not always pretty fashion, to emerge victorious and quite often blood stained at the end of it all. Yes, football was a man’s game in them days…
But oh, how the ravages of time have made a seemingly innocuous game against a team that’s fourth from the bottom of the First division the sort of affair that would have you watching the highlights from behind the sofa through the fingers of your hands, your buttocks clenched so tight that not even the most perfectly formed gaseous excretions could get out, and cramp sets in after the first five minutes.
I realise I am being rather hard on my beloved AFC of late (ref: our previous posting), but blow it, I feel like a right spanner walking around IKEA on a Saturday morning in my replica top being pointed and laughed at by small children; the parents are generally not much better either. Things have got to change, starting tomorrow. So, back the meat wagon up against the doorway at Stark’s Park and herd those Raith Rovers players into the whirling knives of our killer attack.
It’s sort of unfair to make vast expansive head-to-head comparisons between these two teams, seeing as they spend as much time in the same division as an average Portsmouth FC owner spends in the boardroom at Fratton Park. The last time Raith and Aberdeen where in the same division was 1997, and a draw aside, Aberdeen won every one of those games. Three days aside, Raith spent their entire season at the bottom of the SPL, where relegated at the end of it all and spent the intervening years bouncing between Divisions One and Two. The season they’re slowly sinking to the bottom again, but they should be safe as long as Ayr and Airdrie continue on their miserable run of form.
Can you see the point I’m trying to make here? Raith are not very good. True, Aberdeen are not much better this season, but they are better than Raith. We should win. We must win. We will win!
Clueless mediocrity
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
This article may well consign my application as a regular contributor for the Aberdeen match day programme to the bin, but it won’t be the only thing around here that’s worth binning, to wit: Mark McGhee, Aberdeen FC’s dreams of European football next season (or any season, for that matter) and the hopes and dreams of a life-long and long-suffering Aberdeen supporter.
This season has been a ride (in more ways than one), the likes of which people would queue up for at Disneyworld. There have been so many ups and downs, so many sharp turns and sudden halts that even the most hardcore of roller coaster fanatics would be wiping the sweat off their furrowed brows.
Since our glorious win against Rangers, and prior to the game last night against Falkirk, our form guide had taken a perfect palindrome-like quality: LLWWLWWLL. Back to back wins against Hearts (one of those in the Cup, and which spelled the end of Csaba Laszlo) gave some hopes that, as we put it ourselves in the preview for the Motherwell game over on The Offside, the green shoots of recovery where beginning to come through. But ninety minutes and an embarrassing and spineless 3-0 capitulation later, and suddenly all the good work against the Jambo’s seemed undone.
Following the departure of Lee Miller to Middlesbrough at the end of the January transfer window, McGhee finally had the funds to offer both of his season-long transfer targets, Jim Paterson and Steven MacLean, a loan deal, sending a gentle ripple of excitement across the north-east.
Both players would feature in last night’s league game against bottom side Falkirk, but as an introduction to not just Scottish football, but football as played by Aberdeen FC it was certainly not a good introduction. Like Keane at Celtic, their debut for their new team would end in defeat. Ironically, while our own strike force, in the shape of the hard-working but limited Mackie and new boy MacLean huffed and puffed to find the net, it was another Aberdeen striker, Chris Maguire, on loan at Kilmarnock that sank the Bhoys. And to continue with the irony, it was another on-loan striker, Ipswich’s Colin Healy that sealed Falkirk’s win, as he drilled his short from the edge of the box high past Langfield in the Aberdeen goal on the half hour mark.
The defeat followed an all too familiar pattern: a bright enthusiastic start where we pressure without really threatening followed by the loss of possession in midfield and the subsequent loss of a goal, at which point confidence and skill evaporate.
It was our fourth home league defeat in the last five SPL matches at Pittodrie, leaving us outside the top six, twelve points behind fourth-placed Dundee United and facing the prospect of having to qualify for Europe via the Scottish Cup, assuming they beat Raith Rovers on Saturday: me, I’m taking nothing for granted…
Look, it’s uncomfortable reading, but here’s the truth: the current Aberdeen side are not a good team, Mark McGhee is not a good manager, Mark Kerr and Gary McDonald are terrible midfielders (and McDonald a terrible captain), Jerel Iffil and Davide Grassi are terrible defenders, and it says something about the state of professional football in the Granite City when your goalkeeper and Richard Foster (a man who, year on year, is top of our list for shipping out to pastures far, far away) are the best players in your team.
I grow weary whenever I hear those dreaded phrase emerge from McGhee’s mouth: “transitional season”. Those two words, the battle cry of McGhee apologists on every message board I’ve come across, have become a euphemism for clueless mediocrity, the sort played by talentless footballers and lead by an equally talentless manager, under the auspices of a board that fails to recognize the living embodiment in their midst of the tale of the emperor’s new clothes that is Willie Miller.
The Aberdeen board should be congratulated on their very Aberdonian fiscal policies, policies which have brought the club a reasonable degree of financial stability at a time when most clubs, notably Kilmarnock, Livingston, Dundee and of course Rangers have very publically felt the effects that reckless spending brings with it. And those fiscal policies could very well put Aberdeen in line for entry in European competition through the proposed ‘Financial Fair Play” awards. But is that what we really want: qualification through accountancy?
So, where do we go from here?
One possible solution is obvious, but sadly also completely unrealistic: investment. Any businessman worth his salt knows that you need to speculate to accumulate. The Aberdeen board could take a leaf from the exploits of their counterparts in Glasgow-east, namely to do their utmost to bring in the types of players that get the supporters back to the stadium – it’s a sad fact that yesterdays defeat to Falkirk was watched by just over 7,000 supporters, the lowest attendance of the season. Clearly, our reputation pales into insignificance when compared to that of Celtic or Rangers, but in the age of the mercenary footballer and manager, a club’s reputation matters very little – it’s the size of the number at the bottom of the wage packet.
Given that Aberdeen won’t spend the money, there’s little else out there for us as fans to do but to grin and bear it, to accept the mediocrity on show as a fact of life, and to tell ourselves that this will have to do. I love my club, I really do, and there’s no other team I’ll ever support, but I’m frustrated at the state the club is in, and the sheer hopelessness of our situation.
Do not misunderstand me. I do not spend my evenings wearing an ’83 replica kit, running my fingers across a picture of the 1990 Scottish Cup winning side, or the League Cup winning side of ’96; I’m not a huge fan of Alex Ferguson either (though I’d let Alex McLeish jump the queue in the chipper). What angers me more are the missed opportunities that the success of the early 80’s should have brought, and our failure to think in the longer term.
Like the oil-riches that should have made Scotland fabulously wealthy back in the 70’s and 80’s, in those heady days when Aberdeen where the best side in the country, our footballing wealth (in terms of our players, our image and our reputation) has been squandered on a series of terrible transfer deals and terrible managers, from the woeful Iain Porterfield, through to the two Millers – Alex and Willie – and culminating with the appointment of Stevie Patterson, all of whom have played a large part in the subsequent period of painful decay and decline, the effects of which we continue to see every weekend out on the park.
Preview: Aberdeen v Motherwell
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
Aberdeen recorded only their second back-to-back win this season with that fine victory against Hearts in midweek. Youngster Fraser Fyvie set a new record as the SPL’s youngest scorer, aged just 16, taking over the crown from Dundee United’s David Goodwillie. If the Dons can overcome an inconsistency that has hampered their season so far (and the signs are there), then perhaps McGhee can salvage something after all.
Motherwell have now made Craig Brown their permanent manager and celebrated the fact with a dour 0-0 draw against bottom side Falkirk. That Lukas Jutkiewicz has extended his loan deal until the end of the season is good news as the Everton forward has chipped in with 8 league goals so far this season.
Aberdeen (6th » WWLWW)
Motherwell (7th » DWLWL)
Final score: 2-1.
Preview: Aberdeen v Kilmarnock
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
Tomorrow marks the first return for former manager Jimmy Calderwood to Pittodrie since his sacking at the end of last season. Calderwood brings his new side Kilmarnock to the north-east hoping to record his first League victory since taking over at Rugby Park.
While he may not have been desperately popular at Pittodrie, his record speaks for itself: the Dons never finished outside the top six during his spell at Aberdeen, making him easily the most successful manager since, well, you know. Him.
He’s got his work cut out for him at Kilmarnock however. No money, and with only one decent player on the books – Kevin Kyle, and there’s rumours he’s on his way out too – it’s going to be a season that can best be described as one of survival.
Likewise, Aberdeen’s season so far has been one of inconsistency. Good performances one week, terrible the next. That inconsistency will kill us in the end unless McGhee can find a way to turn those near-misses onto goals. Aberdeen have only won two of their last six games and have not won at Pittodrie in the league since the 1-0 defeat of Rangers at the end of November, hardly a record to inspire fear into the opposition. Thankfully, Kilmarnock’s record on the road is equally bad, their last away win coming a week after Aberdeen’s last home win, on 5 December.
We welcome back Zander Diamond to the first team after a long absence, but it’s unlikely he’ll make an appearance tomorrow as he’s far from being match fit. We’ll also have to do without his regular partner at center-half, Andrew Considine, who is out with a long term injury and will need surgery; he’s not expected back this season. Sone Aluko has also been added to the list of long-term absentees; he faces another three weeks on the sidelines following abdominal surgery, meaning we’ll have to wait a bit longer for the Nigerian to add to his five SPL starts this season. Lee Miller is unavailable; he’s serving out the last game of his suspension.
As for predictions, it’s hard to tell. Normally I’d fancy us in this fixture, but Jimmy Calderwood will have stoked his team up to get a result, and stick two fingers up at the Aberdeen board. I reckon it’s going to be another frustrating bore-draw, 1-1.
Other News
In other news, the chase for Steven McLean took an unexpected twist today. The striker has been told by Plymouth he’ll be released on a free at the end of the month. Good news on paper, but sadly Aberdeen are in no position to meet McLean’s demands; it would cost around £150k to bring the player to Pittodrie on the permanent deal he is looking for. McGhee is hoping that no other clubs come in for McLean during the transfer window, hoping to pick up McLean on a loan deal.
As we’ve said here before, the need to sign a quality striker is becoming more urgent with every passing game where the Dons fail to find the net. It’s also not helped by the fact that Lee Miller has refused to begin contract negotiations; he’s hoping for a move South, apparently. Gary McDonald likewise has so far rejected the idea of holding talks with the club, preferring to move back to the West Coast for family reasons. With no definite offers on the table for either players, it looks like both will remain on Aberdeen books for the foreseeable future.
Forwards Chris Maguire and Michael Paton will also stay at the Dons this month if McGhee fails to bring in new forwards. McGhee is willing to send out the duo on loan, with Dundee keen on Paton, but Maguire will not be joining Hamilton, who have inquired about the Scotland under-21 international. We’re also no closer to bringing Darren Barr to Aberdeen. The Bairns captain has met the Dons and Hibs but will not be rushed into a move.
Category: AberdeenA time for reflection
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
There was no SPL action this weekend for Aberdeen as the game against St Johnstone was postponed due a waterlogged pitch, so there’s no better time for a bit of reflection.
Mark McGhee has asked the fans to be patient, describing his first six months in the job as ‘a bit of a rollercoaster’. His comments come following the disappointing 1-0 defeat away in Paisley last Tuesday which saw the Dons slump to 6th in the table, with a further drop to 7th following this weekend’s action.
The Dons currently lie 12 points away from a return to European football.
We’ve said it before on this site, but if the Dons are to have any chance of making anything of the season, a new striker will need to be brought in to do something about the toothless front-line that has seen the Dons find the net only 13 times this season.
This need for a striker has become even more acute since news broke that Lee Miller has stalled on contract talks until the summer. In effect this means that Miller – together with midfielder Gary McDonald who joined the club last year – will become a free agent in the summer, with Hearts having expressed an interest. The second bit of bad news for McGhee is that Steven MacLean looks set to join an as yet unnamed Championship side during the course of this week.
Losing players, in particular strikers, is never a good thing when your options are pretty threadbare already. Miller has contributed only four goals so far this season and looks to be some way off the form that found him topping the scorer’s lists at Pittodrie for the second time in a row last season.
Should Miller depart for pastures maroon or blue remains to be seen. I’m not sure quite why Miller looks so disinterested these days. It’s possible he’s frustrated from the supply he’s getting from midfield, which has certainly taken a dip since the days of Severin and Nicholson – McDonald and Kerr just not having that same presence that those two had. Or maybe Miller just fancies a move away from Pittodrie.
With Miller gone, it frees up the wages to bring in a hard(er) working striker, but you’ve got wonder where that player is going to come from. With MacLean opting to remain in England and the fuss around out-of-favour Swansea City striker Stephen Dobbie dying down, you’ve got to wonder who else McGhee has in his sights to continue the rebuilding programme he has in mind.
At the beginning of the season, I felt Aberdeen where two players short of a side that could improve from last season – or at least maintain the status quo. The first of those was another central defender (we’ve brought in Ifil and Grassi, both adequate, if not exciting additions) and a decent backup goalkeeper (still waiting …). This season I feel we need a striker and a creative midfielder that has the vision to see the opportunities before him, and the skills to turn them into attacking threat. We’ve mentioned Miller, but club captain Kerr has been disappointing in that middle of the park; he’s not the best passer of the ball and is easily intimidated, often ending up ‘missing in action’.
McGhee quite rightly regards this season as the first phase of a rebuilding project. The seeds of a decent team are certainly there. Fyvie, Mulgrew (if we can keep him), Langfield, Diamond, Foster, Aluko (if he’d only stop blowing hot and cold), Pawlett, Maguire and Paton are all young players that you can build a team around.
Until McGhee finds the players that suit the style of play that he wants to play, and which replace the dross (some of it quite expensive), Aberdeen are not going to progress much further. Sadly, I fear we lack the financial muscle to attract the talent McGhee needs to get Aberdeen back to where we should be, namely in Europe and challenging for trophies.
Preview: St Johnstone v Aberdeen
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
Another game, so soon! The Dons travel to Perth tomorrow for a tricky tie against last years promoted team, St Johnstone.
Amazingly enough, this will be St Johnstone’s first game since the 3-1 win over Motherwell on Boxing day. Their early season habit of scoring lots and conceding lots seems to have stopped, but they’ve only recorded two clean-sheets all season. It says here they’re an entertaining side, so I’ll have to take their word for it, but we all know that entertaining sides dont always do well in this league, eh Falkirk?
As for my beloved Aberdeen, I wonder what emotional rollercoaster they’ll be putting me through tomorrow. A good win against Hearts was followed by a decent performance against St Mirren in which we where unlucky to not get the goals our possesion and chances warranted. It was encouraging to see so many of our players chipping in with shots on goal – Mulgrew, Mackie, Fyvie. Hell, even Richard Foster had a go. The problem is that Aberdeen just couldn’t hit a cows arse with a banjo at the minute. As the leagues lowest scorers (just 13 goals scored in the SPL so far) the problem appears to be our lack of striking power and an over-reliance on Mulgrew to get our goals. Lee Miller, top scorer for the past two season is out (suspended) so whatever happens tomorrow, it’s not going to be a goal-fest. Sone Aluko remains injured, along with Zander Diamond.
McGhee has been chasing Darren Barr this week, hoping the Scotland defender will sign up with the Dons, but our defence is reasonably sturdy at the minute, so perhaps we should be stepping up the chase for either one of MacLean and Dobbie to get the goals we’re so desperately needing.
Integrity is no substitute for common sense
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
Did you know that in Switzerland it is illegal to flush the toilet after 10 PM? Or that in Thailand, it is illegal to leave your house without wearing underwear? In Los Angeles, a man can legally beat his wife with a leather belt or strap, but the belt can’t be wider than 2 inches, unless he has his wife’s consent to beat her with a wider strap.
And in Scotland, failing to check the paperwork prior to a Scottish Cup game can have you expelled from the competition.
Crazy.
When Dunfermline defender Calum Woods took to the field shortly after half-time during the Scottish Cup Fourth-round tie last Saturday with his side leading Second Division side Stenhousemuir 4-0, he probably didn’t think there would be much chance of an upset. Simply hold the line, make sure they don’t score and everything will be alright.
After all, the opposition on the night should not have caused too many headaches. Stennie are currently 7th in the table, their season taking a bit of a turn for the worse following their promotion via the play-offs last season. Third in the table in the middle of September, but propping up the table barely a month later. Unlikely to make back-to-back promotions, their season pretty much follows the pattern for most Scottish lower league sides, namely survival.
Their 5-0 win over Highland League Champions Cove Rangers set up the potentially lucrative fixture against First division side Dunfermline, with the possibility of an even more financially rewarding game against Celtic beyond that.
It was not to be though, as second half goals from Steven McDougall and two more goals through Andy Kirk and Joe Cardle killed the tie. A Kevin Bradley consolation goal did nothing but restore some pride, with the final score 7-1 to Dunfermline. The Pars could now look forward to a meeting with Celtic – assuming they can get past Morton on January 19th, that is.
But while the fans adjourned to the pubs to celebrate and the Stenhousemuir players trudged back home, doubts where being cast over the game.
It turns out that Calum Woods, a product of the Liverpool youth academy was not eligible to play, having been banned from Cup games following last season’s semi-final against Falkirk.
Dunfermline should have been aware of this. According to the SFA, the club received “26 issues” of the official suspension list sent to every team prior to kick-off, a list which should have warned the club that Woods was not eligible to play.
As it turns out, the club where guilty of further transgressions, namely that they failed to submit a team sheet that included the mandatory two under-21 players; they failed to specify the ages of the players on the team-sheet; and tried to change the number of substitutes before the start of the game, which, according to the rules, is not allowed either.
As the SFA put it in the explanation of their decision, Dunfermline where ejected for:
* Playing a suspended player, Calum Woods.
* Submitting an inaccurate team line.
* Altering a named substitute (Paul Willis in place of Graeme Holmes).
* Not registering two outfield under-21 players.
There are the facts. Those are the rules.
While there is no getting away from the fact that the backroom staff at Dunfermline made a series of stupid errors, to expel a club from a competition for an administrative error following a game which they won 7-1 is just plain lunacy. SFA Chief Exec Gordon Smith maintains the decision was correct, made to maintain the “integrity of the Active Nation Scottish Cup”.
The integrity may be at stake, but whatever happened to common sense?
There is a precedent for this of course – in 2008, Brechin where expelled from the competition for the same reason, but only after it was discovered that Brechin had fielded not one, but two ineligible players in their Cup game against Hamilton. And in that game, the scores where considerably closer and the game tighter for those two players to have made a material difference to the course and outcome of the game – the first game had been drawn 0-0, but Second Division Brechin battled to an extra-time 2-1 win over the First Division leaders in the replay at Glebe Park.
In Brechins case, the SFA ordered a replay and fined Brechin £10,000 for the errors, and only threw them out after the club owned up to not only having the ineligible Willy Dyer on the field (who had just signed from St Johnstone), but to also having fielded a second ineligible player, Michael Paton, who, at the time, was on loan from Aberdeen.
In Dunfermline’s case, Calum Woods’ appearance made no difference to the game as far as Stenhousemuir where concerned, and even the three goals scored following his coming on made no difference as the tie was not being played over two legs. And in the end, Paul Willis was an unused substitute.
As a result of this decision Dunfermline stand to lose up to £250,000 (depending which newspaper you read) in potential revenue should they face Celtic in the next round. That money will no doubt be welcomed at Stenhousemuir, but this is not about money, or even integrity; it’s about common sense.
The fair decision – following the SFA’s own precedent – would be to have Dunfermline fined, and then forced to play the game over. There’s little doubt the name of the team that will face Celtic (sorry Morton fans) will change, but at least you’re not punishing the players or the supporters for the oversight of the clubs inability to read their mail.
Let common sense prevail.
Category: Team NewsReview: St Mirren 1-0 Aberdeen
By: TheNorthernLight | Add Comments
If there was one phrase to summarize this game, it’d be “lies, damned lies and statistics”. Despite having the lions share of possession, twice the number of shots on goal and seven times the number of shots off target, it was the second of St Mirren’s two shots on targets that found the back of the net.
Aberdeen certainly deserved to get more from a game where they hit the woodwork twice, where Peter Pawlett went close on a couple of occasions, where the highly rated youngster Fraser Fyvie fired just over, where Charlie Mulgrew had a free-kick saved and where Darren Mackie had two penalty shouts turned down.
Where the statistics definitely do not lie is picture they pain that reveal the fact that Aberdeen need a decent striker. Aberdeen have only scored 13 goals this season, the lowest of all the SPL teams – even bottom side Falkirk have scored more, finding the net 16 times.
With the clubs top scorer for the last two seasons Lee Miller out suspended and Sone Aluko out injured, it’s hard to see where the goals are going to come from in the next few games. We’re relying too much on Charlie Mulgrew to find the net from dead-ball situations, Darren Mackie is still trying to find his form, Michael Paton has not shown the sort of performance he showed in the 3-2 defeat to Dundee in which he scored both goals, and Tommy Wright, the clubs only other striker with experience (he scored 15 goals for Darlington before he was snapped up by Jimmy Calderwood) looks to be on his way out after featuring rarely in the starting lineup due to injury and a few distinctly unimpressive displays.
It’s reassuring to know that McGhee is aware of the problem. Discussions with Plymouth forward Steven MacLean and Swansea striker Stephen Dobbie are ongoing; Aberdeen offering both loan deals until the end of the season. But MacLean, who was recently back in his hometown for a week long trail with Hearts, is looking for a permanent contract, and Dobbie – good for some 23 goals for Queen of the South last season – is probably going to stay with Swansea. Perhaps it’s time to look in other quarters.
Yesterday’s defeat leaves Aberdeen in 6th place in the league, three points behind Hearts. The Dons next face an away trip to St Johnstone, before returning home to play back-to-back games at Pittodrie against Falkirk and Kilmarnock.
We’d be looking to get at least six points out of a possible nine, but consistency has not been a hallmark of our season so far. The Dons have only managed one back-to-back win in this campaign, and we don’t see that changing any time soon.
Our hope is that the Dundee United collapse continues (although they have a relatively easy fixture list coming up), and Hearts lose their game away at Ibrox in two weeks time – and we beat the Jambo’s on the 27th!
Category: Aberdeen
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