Aberdeen skipper Shinnie so glad he is no longer at receiving end of Stevie mayhem

ABERDEEN

May 11, 79

DUNDEE

Deacon 53

2

Graeme Shinnie still has painful memories of how difficult it was to stop Stevie May scoring when they were in direct competition, which explains why the Aberdeen captain is relishing the headaches his new team-mate is about to inflict on their Premiership rivals now he’s back in Scottish football.

To be fair, Shinnie did pretty well during those confrontations as May only scored one of his 27 goals for St Johnstone in those clashes with Caley Thistleduringaseasonclimaxedby the Perth club’s solitary Scottish Cup final success. However, it did leave an indelible impression of what made the striker so difficult for defenders to deal with back then and a match-winning double against Dundee on Saturday reinforced the midfielder’s belief those attributes remain undiminished despite three frustrating years down south.

After all, someone who hit 77 goals in 137 games during loan spells at Alloa and Hamilton while with St Johnstone managed just eight during that time with first Sheffield Wednesday then Preston North End.

A serious knee injury certainly didn’t help but Derek Mcinnes, who handed May his senior debut as a 16-yearold at Perth, never doubted the £400,000 paid to the Deepdale club would be money well spent

The quality of his goals against Dundee certainly suggest May is rapidly returning to the form that earned that lucrative move to English football in the first place.

Shinnie for one is convinced that’s the case and has warned Aberdeen’s opponents to expect some painful experiences of their own in the months ahead.

“Stevie’s one of these players who doesn’t want to just keep running in behind defences,” said the Dons captain. “You can see from his link-up play he likes to come and get the ball and bring other players into the game. It gives defenders that headache of wondering do they come in tight and leave space in behind for others to run in to but then, if they drop off and let him have the ball to feet, he can turn and hit shots and hurt you.

“It’s definitely a headache for other teams to deal with but a good one for us. He got two brilliant goals against Dundee and his all-round play is brilliant and he will bring a lot to the team.”

The striker, wearing the No 83 shirt in a shrewd merchandising tribute to

Aberdeen’s European Cup Winners’ Cup success, could hardly have scripted a better home debut.

That win against Real Madrid was on 11 May 1983 and, in a bizarre twist of fate that would have delighted their marketing department, his goals came 11 minutes from the start and end of the game. The first was a clever looping backward header from a Greg Tansey corner and the second a stunning drilled shot after Shinnie had seen his effort at goal blocked. That was cruel on Dundee, who had looked on course for a first point of the season after Roarie Deacon intercepted a poor Ryan Christie pass before advancing to zip a shot through the legs of Joe Lewis for a 53rd-minute equaliser.

A team already blighted by injuries to seven players prior to kick-off were down to nine men when May scored the winner as Marcus Haber and Faissal El Bakhtauoi were off the field after getting treatment for injuries. Dundee manager Neil Mccann couldn’t get his substitutes on quickly enough to prevent Aberdeen exploiting the advantage but it was just one aspect of what were too many self-inflicted blows.

Naive decision making on and off the pitch didn’t help and neither did the way they squandered excellent opportunities to make life easier for themselves as James Vincent in the first half and especially Scott Allan after the break, missed simple chances to score.

Mccann knows hard luck stories have a limited shelf life but, even with the prospect of Hibernian at home and Ranger away as their next two fixtures, the Dundee manager wasn’t too despondent despite their worse start to any season since 1998.

“It’s hard to take because we played really well in spells today,” he said. “But we will go again, there is no panic. I believe we should be looking at having three or four points but if you don’t take chances in this game then you get nothing.”

MAYDAY, MAYDAY “Stevie May is a headache for other teams to deal with. He got two brilliant goals and his all-round play is brilliant. He will bring a lot to the team”

GRAEME SHINNIE