Fortune smiles on Dons as they book their place in Final
GORDON STRACHAN watched from the stands as his former club booked their place in the League Cup Final on Sunday November 27.
The Scotland manager scored against Morton when these two clubs met in the 1979-80 semi-final of the tournament.
Then, the Dons, formidable under Alex Ferguson, went onto lose the Final to Dundee United, after a replay.
This season, they will face the winners of the Rangers v Celtic tie at the national stadium this afternoon for the right to claim the first trophy of the domestic season.
Whichever of the pair they take on, they can only hope to carry as much fortune as they did here yesterday.
For their crucial first goal, headed home by Adam Rooney at a time when the Championship outfit were in the ascendency, was shown by television evidence to be half a yard offside.
And that, as Morton manager Jim Duffy pointed out, proved crucial in earning them only their second win at Hampden in 21 years.
“I’m told the first goal is offside and if that’s the case it’s going to stick in my craw,” he said.
“It was huge turning point in terms of the game. That period was the most relaxed I’d felt with Aberdeen maybe just getting a little edgy.
“So, if it shouldn’t have stood, it will be even more painful. There can’t just be a hint of offside. It’s either offside or it’s not.
“Believe me, if there’s an offside goal in the big game ( Rangers v Celtic) there will be a really big deal made about it.”
Duffy, who was in charge of the Dundee team that lost the 1995 League Cup Final ( then the Coca Cola Cup) to Aberdeen, did a great job of setting out a team to frustrate the Dons.
They had to withstand a torrid early spell with Aberdeen starting in a hurry.
Almost immediately they forced a corner. James Maddison whipped in the ball to the near post and Kenny McLean tested Morton keeper
Andrew McNeil with a clipped shot in on goal.
He was up to the challenge pushing the ball behind but needed the help of his crossbar to deny Jonny Hayes, whose header from the subsequent, and a very similar, setpiece would otherwise have opened the scoring.
Once they settled, though, Morton were impressive with Jai Quitongo, released by Aberdeen in 2015, really catching the eye.
The burly striker has attracted plenty of attention this season for his performances from clubs on both sides of the border.
And here he advertised why, causing plenty of problems for Aberdeen’s backline.
Mark Reynolds, in particular, looked uncomfortable against him and needed his keeper Joe Lewis to bail him out with a fine stop when he slipped to leave Quitongo in on goal.
At the other end, Adam Rooney had been quieter.
He showed his threat just before the break, however, beating his markers to fairly power a header onto the crossbar from Maddison’s cross.
The second half brought more of
the same with Morton’s midfield tirelessly scrapping to shut down the time and space available to Aberdeen’s flair players.
Then, just as they began to start to impose themselves as an attacking force, the Dons struck.
It was a simple goal, impressive albeit offside.
Graeme Shinnie swung in a deep cross from the right, Andrew Considine headed the ball back into the middle to Rooney – standing ahead of the Morton backline – who nodded past O’Neil to break the deadlock.
Advantage established, Aberdeen palpably relaxed and it was no great surprise when they doubled their lead near the end.
Rooney hooked the ball wide to send McGinn free down the right and when the Northern Irishman skipped inside and shot low, McNeil could only push the ball back into play.
Lurking at the back post, Kenny McLean snapped up the gift with glee.
“We made it clear at the start of the season our objective was to win silverware and we are 90 minutes from doing that now,” said Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes.