Second-half recovery not enough to upset Dons
Defender Tam Scobbie looks on helplessley as he deflects an Aberdeen cross beyond Alan Mannus and into the back of his own net St Johnstone ................. 1 Aberdeen ...................... 2 It was a second-half Perth revival which almost resulted in a positive result.
But a slow opening 45 minutes provided the platform for Aberdeen to down St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park and make sure that the post-split fixture run-in is going to be an exciting one.
Saints couldn’t extend their lead over fifth-place Hearts who had played out a monotonous stalemate with Kilmarnock on the Friday night, but the Perth club remain in a sound position.
After 11 minutes Michael Coulson – deployed in a more advanced role in the opening stages – found himself in a position of promise but his weak effort went straight at visiting stopper Joe Lewis.
The absence of a physical presence in the forward department soon became apparent. Irishman Graham Cummins was serving a one-game ban for tallying up too many yellow cards.
Little quality was on show from Saints and within the first 15 minutes defender Joe Shaughnessy had twice cleared the ball into touch and out of the stadium. If in doubt, knock it out springs to mind.
When the ball did return to the field of play, visiting winger Jonny Hayes was proving difficult to keep tabs on.
His pace and attacking style of play down the flank is always a danger and in the 16th minute a whipped cross from the left was almost turned into his own net by captain for the day Brian Easton.
That was a scare but one which didn’t wake the home squad up. Ryan Christie