McCrorie and Hedges give Aberdeen a Sporting chance

ABERDEEN set up a mouthwatering tie with Portuguese giants Sporting in the third round of the Europa League qualifiers after goals from Ross McCrorie and Ryan Hedges sealed a 2- 0 win over Viking. The Dons got off to a strong start in Norway and enjoyed the lion’s share of possession early on. Marley Watkins went close in the game’s opening exchanges when his header was tipped over the bar by Ivan Ostboe and Scott Wright really should have done better when he was send scarpering through one- on- one, only to be denied by the keeper’s outstretched leg. Derek McInnes’ men started strongly and were creating decent opportunities on a regular basis but as the first half progressed, the hosts grew into the game and started to exert some pressure of their own.

Viking had plenty of the ball and moved it into some dangerous areas but simply couldn’t find any gaps to exploit in the stubborn Dons defence before McCrorie broke the deadlock on the stroke of half- time.

A Dons corner resulted in the ball falling to the feet of Wright, whose low strike was unable to make its way through the mass of bodies between the forward and the goal. It fell to McCrorie, who struck the ball first- time towards the far corner to give his side the advantage at the break.

Viking came out after the restart and were inches away from levelling the scores within two minutes. A well- worked corner found Veton Berisha but his low drilled shot rolled narrowly wide of the near post.

The home side pressed for an equaliser before Hedges sealed the win with a sensational strike straight from a corner that looped all the way in at the far post with 10 minutes to go.