Dons’ Sam – and Oor Wullie Miller!
Oor Wullie Miller (inset), part of The Sunday Post’s campaign to raise funds for Scotland’s children’s hospital charities, made an appearance outside Pittodrie yesterday. Meanwhile inside, Sam Cosgrove popped up to score again in Aberdeen’s 3-0 win over Ross County.
ABERDEEN 3 Leigh (34), Cosgrove (37), Hedges (50) ROSS COUNTY 0
The Dons’ biggest home league win since December warmed a Pittodrie crowd stripped of the prospect of any potential European trips to the sun.
As Rangers and Celtic fans have cheered their clubs’ respective advancement to the Europa League group stages, for Aberdeen supporters all that remains is the domestic action.
And this victory, featuring Sam Cosgrove’s tenth goal in 10 games, settled any nagging fears of a slump prompted by the recent loss to St Mirren in Paisley.
Up against an opponent missing seven players through injury, including stalwarts Ross Draper, Lee Erwin and Liam Fontaine, Aberdeen dominated throughout.
Niall McGinn was bright from the off and featured in what should really have been an early opener for the hosts.
The Northern Irishman’s low shot-cum-cross forced County keeper Ross Laidlaw to dive and push the ball back into his area, teeing up the lurking Cosgrove with a terrific opportunity.
Six yards out he had half the goal to aim at but failed to get his shot past Keith Watson who had scrambled back to his keeper’s aid and was able to clear to safety.
Yet, while the neat linking play of Lewis Ferguson, Craig Bryson and Ryan Hedges allowed the Dons to dominate, their attacks were continually blunted when they hit the Highlanders’ packed defensive wall.
They needed something extra to make the breakthrough and just after the half-hour they got it, courtesy of a wellworked free-kick.
When McGinn lined up to take a free-kick in the middle of the County half, the visitors expected the ball in early but instead he slid it to Hedges, standing slightly in front of him and a few yards to the right.
Hedges was wise to the ploy for he steadied himself briefly before whipping a gorgeous in-swinging cross on to the head of Greg Leigh, who got a clear contact to nod back and across Laidlaw into the corner of the net.
The relief inside Pittodrie was palpable and it turned to joy when Aberdeen made it 2-0 on their next attack.
The impressive Ferguson created it when darting into the box to draw a foul from the County keeper.
Referee Nick Walsh was unsure so looked to his standside assistant, Kylie Cockburn, and, on receiving her assurance a foul had been committed, pointed to the penalty spot.
That presented Cosgrove, who had otherwise been a menacing presence, with the perfect chance to make amends for his earlier miss.
He grabbed it too, sending a low drive into the net for his tenth goal of the season.
Two then became three on the teams’ return from the interval. Again it was McGinn who was the creator with a curled cross that beat all to allow Hedges to slide in at the back post and score.
As for County, well if not for bad luck they wouldn’t have had any.
They saw Billy McKay’s penalty conversion attempt come careering back off the base of Lewis’s left-hand post after Funso Ojo had handballed in the Dons area.
Then, after Ross Stewart at last wriggled free from his markers to bear down on goal, the striker’s curled effort came rattling off almost exactly the same spot of the woodwork.
For Ricky Foster, making his second debut for County against another of his old clubs following a mid-week switch from St Johnstone, it was an afternoon to forget.