Shinnie strikes to turn the heat up on Gers
aberdeen 1 Shinnie 35 dundee 0
It was Arctic in Aberdeen.
But the Dons turned up the heat on Rangers with a dogged win over Dundee.
Graeme Shinnie’s first-half strike was enough to close his side to within two points of the Gers.
Now, with a game in hand over Graeme Murty’s side, Aberdeen will seek to pile on even more pressure after the international break.
But it could have been so very different if the Dens Park men had capitalised on a first-half opportunity.
On a horrendous pitch, Dundee star A-jay Leitch-smith fluffed a gilt-edged chance to fire his side into the lead on the half-hour mark.
One-on-one with Freddie Woodman, he allowed the Dons keeper to make a crucial stop.
Five minutes later, Aberdeen hit the net and with a dearth of flowing football on display, there was no way back for Neil Mccann’s side, whose play-off fears remain all too real.
There’s an advertising board at the front of Pittodrie’s South Stand with a message that seemed to sum up the atmosphere of yesterday’s clash perfectly.
“Siberia,” it states (turns out it’s for a vodka bar on Belmont Street).
There was certainly something of the Soviet winter in the biting, Granite City air for Dundee’s visit.
The barren, crater-strewn pitch had a touch of the gulag exercise yard about it too.
The 15,000-strong Red Army – and a hardy diplomatic envoy from down the A90 – were served up a game which turned out to be as brutal as any scheme President Putin might dream up on a quiet day down the Kremlin. The ball remained airborne for the vast majority of a first half neither team seized control of.
Dundee, winless in Aberdeen for an astonishing 14 years, found themselves on the end of a pair of early chances, but Kevin Holt’s attempted lob was claimed by Freddie Woodman before Roarie Deacon lashed a volley wide of the target.
Aberdeen looked ragged after their midweek Scottish Cup exertions, and gave Leitch-smith his big chance on the half-hour.
With the Dons defence looking for an offside call that never came, the Dundee striker latched quickly onto a ball over the top from Darren O’dea and found himself oneon-one with Woodman.
He lost the contest – and Aberdeen quickly made them pay.
Ryan Christie, battling against the underfoot conditions, whipped in a deadly cross which attracted Dundee keeper Elliot Parish, O’dea, Steven Caulker and the Dons’ Niall Mcginn. All four ended up in a tangled heap on the floor, leaving Graeme Shinnie to side-foot the loose ball into the unguarded net.
After 45 minutes of hard, first-half labour, the dressing room must have felt sweet for both teams.
But Aberdeen looked like they’d got the most benefit.
They claimed the upper hand as the game ground to its conclusion, with Mcginn and Christie both missing clear-cut opportunities to extend the Dons’ lead.
Stevie May had the ball in the next six minutes from time, but referee Willie Collum blew for a nudge on Kevin Holt in the build-up.
For Dundee, after yet another defeat, it didn’t make much difference.
With Ross County a point closer to them and Hamilton Accies a point further away, they are under big pressure.
And with three fixtures against Hearts, Celtic and Rangers to come before the split, they will need big results to alleviate it.