PERFECT SWANSONG
Hibs-bound Danny gives Perth men a Euro lifeline
SOME say that games between Aberdeen and St Johnstone are hard-fought encounters, with little between the sides and a lack of real quality.
Those observers are correct. This was a courageous win for Saints with two goals in the last ten minutes giving them a priceless victory. With Rangers losing earlier in the day to Celtic, the Dons failed to pick up the three points which would have all but secured second place in the Premiership ahead of their Ibrox rivals.
For Saints, they are now six points ahead of Hearts, who drew with Partick Thistle, in the race for fourth and the last Europa League qualifying spot in the Premiership.
These two teams met a fortnight ago in Perth, with Aberdeen coming out on top, and Tommy Wright had seen enough from that encounter to ring the changes.
He introduced five new players to the starting line-up with Chris Millar, Murray Davidson, Steven Anderson, Graham Cummins and Danny Swanson, who has signed a pre-contract with Hibs and joins Neil Lennon’s side in the summer, returning to the fray.
Derek McInnes made only one change from the Aberdeen side which beat Hibernian in the Scottish Cup semi-final last week — with Mark Reynolds being dropped for Niall McGinn, but it prompted an entire reshuffle of how the Dons set up.
It was a 3-4-3 with Shay Logan, Ash Taylor and Andrew Considine operating as the backline with Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn adding protection as wing-backs.
When attacking, they would overlap Kenny McLean and Ryan Christie who would tuck in behind Adam Rooney to create options in the middle.
However, whatever tactical ambitions both managers held were made redundant as the game quickly deteriorated into a physical battle with both teams committed to tackles and eager to win second balls.
In amongst the scrappy action there were few chances.
Graeme Shinnie found himself with a bit of time 20 yards from goal but his connection was weak which allowed Rooney to flick it towards goal. Alan Mannus, the Saints goalkeeper, was alert, getting down low to his right and holding the effort.
The game was never going to be defined by who could cut the opposition open best; it was going to be who was toughest and early bookings to Logan and Hayes only stoked tensions.
Millar then flew into a tackle on Christie on the halfway line and the youngster, on loan from Celtic, took exception to Wright’s comments on the sidelines, squaring up to the visiting boss.
Christie, at 5ft 10in, is a bit shorter than the 6ft 1in Northern Irishman, but his valour was a personification of the nature of play. It was fast and furious and when Swanson beat Considine in the box, Hayes was rapid in getting back from attack to nick the ball away from his adversary who otherwise would have had time to shoot.
Hayes was also an accessory in attack and his abundance of pace and poise when crossing the ball tests most defences in Scotland.
On the brink of half-time he broke away from Richard Foster and swung the ball in towards McLean. Joe Shaughnessy was out of position and missed his attempt at a clearance but McLean was also a bit behind the play and could only put his stretching header wide.
It took a change of personnel after the break from Wright to alter the flow of play. David Wotherspoon was replaced by Craig Thomson and when he hurried Ryan Jack into passing back to Joe Lewis it gave the visitors an indirect free-kick.
Liam Craig laid the ball off for Swanson who slid it underneath the goalkeeper with a precise finish.
Aberdeen were ragged and soon found themselves two behind. Pushing forward in an attempt to earn a draw, they were hit on the counter-attack, led by Swanson, who fed the ball into Thomson.
The 22-year-old was calm and fired his effort low across Lewis for his first ever goal for the club.