Alnwick steals the show as Considine says goodbye To Pittodrie
Aberdeen St Mirren
0
0
GOALLESS draws are often dreary; this one wasn’t.
It featured two committed sides who have both underperformed this season and had their respective fans shaking their heads in disbelief at a paucity of quality.
More so Aberdeen, sliding to 10th place in the Premiership, their lowest finish for 18 years.
Which was when a young lad called Andy Considine made his first appearance for the Dons and ended his career with them 18 years to the day later when he was invited to captain the side before being removed a few minutes into the second half to warm applause from the home supporters.
The respective managers, Jim Goodwin and Stephen Robinson, his replacement when the former departed Paisley for Pittodrie in February, have experienced a dismal return for their efforts, although Robinson did his best to put a positive spin on his tenure.
He said: “That’s the first time since 2011 that St Mirren have kept four clean sheets in a row in the league.
“So the template is there defensively. We know what we need to do over the summer to get in more pace, athleticism and more creativity into the teams.
“Our goalkeeper, Jak Alnwick, who is leaving, was very good before I came in and he was very good again at Pittodrie.
“But I believe we have replaced him already with a like for like, which is difficult.
“We have done some very good business early when we knew Jak was leaving.
“We thank him for his contributions. Players like that are difficult to replace but I feel that we may be able to.”
Alnwick produced a man-ofthe-match display with a series of remarkable saves, while the hosts complained that referee Don Robertson’s decision to award them a penalty kick as the first half drew to a close, should have stood.
Instead, his assistant Sean Carr persuaded him that a high ball for which David Bates, the Aberdeen centre-back, and Scott Tanser had challenged, had not hit the latter’s hand. Rather it had made contact with the back of Tanser’s head.
Cue Goodwin’s take on the controversy.
He said: “If the linesman on the near side had over-ruled the referee for a push in the back I could maybe accept that.
“But he said the ball hit off the back of Scott Tanser’s head as opposed to his arm which is just baffling.
“So we should be a couple of goals up, then Alnwick makes
a lot of good saves. We were in complete control throughout the game.
“We must have had 70 per cent possession and plenty of opportunities on goal so it was a very frustrating afternoon again.
“I sound like a broken record as I’ve talked about having plenty of the ball but not having the composure to finish it off.”
It was the story of Aberdeen’s season; and their leaky defence.
Goodwin has already admitted he has been powerless to effect improvements in the performances of his squad but knows, too, that some of those under-achievers will, because of contractual arrangements, still be around Pittodrie next season.