Sunday 20 October 2013

Aberdeen 1 v Dundee United 0

A second successive victory for me watching the Dons yesterday as they squeaked past an impressive Dundee United outfit at Pittodrie yesterday. There was a decent atmosphere from the 12,654 gate with an unusually large following up from the Tay of 1700 or so. Expectation s were high for both sets of supporters.

The Terrors played particularly well in the first half but were contained by a strong Aberdeen defence lead by Russell Anderson. I thought an away win was on the cards at the break but Aberdeen are pretty resilient and they stuck to their task. There wasn't much for McGinn and Zola to feed on and what there was was usually in the form of a high ball. The logic was understandable given the towering presence of the Congolese forward, but he is one of those big men who can't make the most of their height and who are invariably out-jumped. However, after 54 minutes Aberdeen hit the winner. A slick passing move into the box unhinged the United defence and Calvin Zola was finally left a couple of yards of space which gave him the chance to sweep in the final pass.

After that Dundee should have equalised when they managed to split the home defence for the only time in the match but the impressive Turk, Ciftci, couldn't beat the advancing Jamie Langfield who managed to get something on the shot to send it wide of the goal. Dundee were beaten from that point and the noise from the visiting fans dropped audibly as Aberdeen finished in control. Willo Flood was the deserving man-of-the-match after a tireless display which prevented Aberdeen from being over-run in midfield.

I was very impressed overall with the pace of the match and the quality of the football. There were very few mistakes and I was left contrasting what I had seen with what I have been watching so far this season. One-nil to the SPL on that form.

Great too to see the Addicks winning as well. Richard Wood played another blinder by all accounts and looks to have firmly established himself in central defence. Ben Hamer has had questions being asked of him again of late but yesterday was another day when he kept us in it and we shouldn't forget days like those. After two draws we now look like we have a chance to get a run going and move ourselves clear of the mire. Johnnie Jackson and Yann Kermorgant also made returns from the bench, so things should be looking up. Bring on Wigan!

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