Sporle strike piles more misery on to misfiring Dons
AT the end of a week when the advice of Sir Alex Ferguson was received, perhaps a dose of the old hair-dryer treatment is needed to somehow lift this Aberdeen side from their horrendous run of form.
It may be a new era at the Dons following the departure of Derek McInnes but the same old problems remain. No goals. No points.
Chairman Dave Cormack revealed that he had spoken with the legendary former Aberdeen and Manchester United boss as he hunts to find a new manager.
Whoever eventually arrives to fill the hotseat will need to add some serious spark to a side that, somehow, remains in fourth position.
Under interim boss Paul Sheerin, the Dons slumped to defeat at Dundee United thanks to Adrian Sporle’s second-half goal. Incredibly, Aberdeen have won just one game and scored once in 10 matches. They are now seven points behind third-placed Hibernian.
‘It’s disappointing and frustrating,’ said Sheerin, who gave a debut to 20-year-old left-back Jack MacKenzie. ‘The fact that we can’t score goals is worrying and we’re striving to try and rectify it.
‘In terms of build-up play, a lot of it was good. But when you’re not getting the end product your play deserves, it’s frustrating. The players have worked hard. Nobody feels it as much as them.’
Before kick-off, United’s players chose to stand rather than kneel in solidarity with Glen Kamara of Rangers after he was the target of alleged racist abuse by Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela in their Europa League tie at Ibrox on Thursday.
United boss Micky Mellon said: ‘I fully back them. They wanted to stand side by side with their mates from the Scottish Premiership. They wanted to show support with the players at Rangers.’
Dons midfielder Lewis Ferguson was booked for diving in the box just before half-time as he tumbled with Calum Butcher.
The winning goal came on 61 minutes. Jeando Fuchs nipped ahead of MacKenzie to keep the ball in play. Lawrence Shankland then played a onetwo with Marc McNulty before cutting the ball back for Sporle to steer home from 10 yards.