Rooney red hot again for Dons
ABERDEEN are hanging in there courtesy of Adam Rooney’s first-half effort last night. Chipping and gnawing away at Celtic’s lead. Hanging grimly to their coat-tails, refusing to let go.
There is ground to be made up yet. With 12 goals in their last two games Ronny Deila’s team have the chance to restore a six-point lead against St Johnstone today and few expect them to slip.
If they do, a visit to Pittodrie a week on Wednesday takes on a new impetus. Any lapse and a midweek trip to the Granite City in February will hold all the appeal of a package trip to Damascus.
To beat Celtic, Aberdeen need more clinical finishing. Rooney scored his fourth of the season against Dundee to stretch their unbeaten run in the Premiership to 10 games. Yet the final scoreline failed to reflect their dominance.
Craig Storie’s first home start of the season was a positive. Yet poor finishing, a lack of composure and inspired goal keeping from Dundee’s Scott Bain was a recipe for Friday night frustration.
The solace comes in three points and a rest weekend before facing Celtic. Albeit one brought on by a premature Scottish Cup exit.
The Dons opened the scoring in 14 minutes, top scorer Rooney claiming his 16th strike of the season.
It followed some perseverance from Irish winger Jonny Hayes. He enjoyed the break of the ball on the right flank and his low delivery made it across the face of goal at the second attempt.
Rooney defied calls for offside as he slid in at the back post to guide the ball over the line.
There was a valiant attempt by Scott Bain to stop it on the line, the Dundee goalkeeper the difference between his team and a first-half hammering.
When Rooney scores, Aberdeen tend to win. They have lost only three of the 43 he has netted in and that record should have been safe long before half-time as Aberdeen’s elaborate, trainingground corner routine caused Dundee no end of problems.
The visitors lived a charmed existence even in the 13 minutes before the goal, Bain setting the tone for his night by producing three fine stops in a short space of time.
The first fell to Rooney following a slack defensive header from Thomas Konrad. The striker turned and guided the ball towards goal, Bain turning it wide.
What followed was a war of attrition between Dundee’s keeper and Dons defender Ash Taylor.
The Englishman will look back on this game after a sleepless night and ponder how the hell he failed to score at least once.
Indeed, he could have had a hattrick by half-time but for Dundee’s keeper. Taylor chested the ball down for the first opportunity after six minutes, whacking it high towards goal from 10 yards — but Bain pushed his shot over.
The second chance, moments later, was even better, a low shot from the penalty spot somehow blocked by the keeper’s legs.
When Rooney poked the ball over the line, Aberdeen had some breathing space.
Dundee struggled to get a foothold in the game on the bare, rutted pitch. The home team, their wide pair of Hayes and Niall McGinn an incessant menace, kept their foot on the accelerator chasing a second.
It should have come i n 27 minutes. Again, the chance fell to Taylor, the centre-half drifting unchallenged into the area for a free header from a McGinn corner — but he contrived to put it wide.
There was yet another Dons opportunity from a corner just before half-time, the defender prodding the ball towards goal in a crowded area, with Bain punching it clear from the goal-line.
Any threat from the visitors was l i kely to emanate from Kane Hemmings. The ex-Rangers and Cowdenbeath striker is in a rich vein of form, having scored seven times in his last four games.
He threatened in the early stages when his angled shot towards the bottom corner was pushed away by Scott Brown.
He was denied again in the 33rd minute, a Konrad diagonal high ball into the area producing a low volley towards Brown’s bottom right-hand corner, which the Dons keeper pushed wide. Dundee’s hopes of building on territorial gains weren’t helped by the loss of full-back Kevin Holt six minutes into the second half.
Caught by the high boot of Logan, he left the pitch with a gash on his ear and headed for Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as Logan entered Alan Muir’s book.
Home fans howled in protest at the booking. Their mood was hardly improved by another blown chance in 58 minutes.
Rooney, usually so reliable in front of goal, was presented with another back-post opportunity from a Hayes cross — but he shanked it over the bar.