On this form, how long will Dons be able to keep hold of brilliant Bojan?
THERE is an inherent danger in Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin being just too effusive over the early impact Bojan Miovski has made at Pittodrie. Yet, he just can’t help himself. And it is easy to understand why.
The North Macedonian is that most precious of things in football — a centre-forward who simply looks like scoring almost every time he plays. A guy happy to take the weight of responsibility that comes with being expected to deliver goals on his shoulders and use it as fuel.
He is not necessarily flashy. There are spells in games where he can go unnoticed. Yet, he is always in there sniffing for chances, making intelligent runs, looking for those little cracks in the facade of other teams that he can prise open and capitalise upon.
Miovski will win Aberdeen a good number of extra points this season. There is no question about that. The question, even at this early juncture, is: How long will Goodwin and co be able to keep him at Pittodrie?
Credit must go to head of recruitment Darren Mowbray for sourcing and securing Miovski from the relative backwater of Hungary and MTK Budapest. Praise is also due to the board for paying out £500,000 or so — plus wages — to secure his services.
Moving him on to a bigger club on a bigger stage in time is clearly the plan. Buying low, selling high and reinvesting part of the profit has to be the way clubs such as Aberdeen work from now on.
It’s just that you would imagine there are already a number of scouts with Miovski on their radar and hearing Goodwin state that he believes the player ‘could be anything he wants’ is only going to pique interest even further.
If the 23-year-old maintains this level of scoring — he has managed six goals in six appearances when he is still building up his match fitness — who would rule out the possibility of someone having a nibble and testing Aberdeen’s resolve in January?
Certainly, on early evidence, you would imagine the Dons will be doing well to keep him beyond this season. Dependable goalscorers are what every team wants, needs and cherishes and this fellow, on early impressions, just looks born to do it.
Goodwin also senses his players are becoming attuned to Miovski’s clever running, picking up on where he wants the ball played, where he is going to be. Vicente Besuijen, in particular, appears to be building up a promising level of understanding with him — as evidenced during periods of this not-always-convincing 5-0 win over ten-man Livingston.
The 21-year-old Dutch youth internationalist hasn’t quite lit up the Scottish game in the way expected since arriving in an ambitious £400,000 move from ADO Den Haag in January, but he clearly enjoys having Miovski ahead of him on the field and is relishing Goodwin’s strong intention of sending out a team set up to attack and entertain.
‘Bojan has settled in really well at Aberdeen and the way he runs in behind the defenders means he is a real threat for the opponent,’ said Besuijen. ‘It’s good for us to have a striker in the team who is always so hungry for goals.
‘I hope that we get loads of games like that because I think that’s when I am at my best as well.
‘That’s why I love football — to get the ball and be on the ball and not to defend. When I get oneversus-one against my defender, I can help the team to win. I want to be good on the ball, score and assist goals and enjoy it. When do you have joy? When you win and you have played a big part in it.’
Besuijen certainly played his part in making what looked like it could be an uncomfortable afternoon for Aberdeen much more straightforward when robbing visiting defender Jack Fitzwater inside the Livi area shortly before the break as he dilly-dallied on the ball.
Fitzwater reacted by fouling him — duly being sent-off — and gave Miovski the chance to open the scoring from the spot.
Until then, Livi had easily been the better side with Joel Nouble passing up a good opportunity and an unmarked Ayo Obileye being denied by a low, instinctive and quite fantastic save from home goalkeeper Kelle Roos.
Aberdeen, no matter the final scoreline, are not yet functioning as a cohesive unit. The recent defeat at home to Motherwell proved it. Yes, they are a new team that still has to knit together, but they still have a fair way to go.
‘It was easier for us after that (Fitzwater’s sending-off),’ said Besuijen. ‘I’m happy that it meant we got a pen and they got a red card.
‘They dropped back, we got more of the ball and we could find our men as we got more spaces, so I was happy that we won with a lot of goals as we are Aberdeen and we want to score loads of goals.
‘We want to give the fans a show and I think that’s what we did.’
Besuijen even got on the scoresheet in the most unexpected fashion. After Ross McCrorie had made it 2-0, referee Colin Steven felt Livi sub Phillip Cancar had fouled Duk Lopes in the area — and Miovski actually passed Besuijen the ball to take the spotkick and make it three.
Goodwin wasn’t too happy about it. He wants to see his No 9 show the eye of the tiger — and that hunger for goals — constantly. Besuijen, though, believes that little vignette showed what a good relationship he is developing with the new recruit.
‘Bojan is our first taker, but, in training, we have a good link-up and are good with each other, so he looked at me and said: “I want to give you the ball”,’ revealed Besuijen. ‘It was nice of him.
‘The manager told me he didn’t know why he gave it to me but it’s great that he has a lot of confidence in me. I know Bojan is our first penalty taker and the next time maybe he will take it but will see how it goes.’
From there, it was a procession. Miovski showed his predatory instinct by moving on to a Jonny Hayes pass with a beautiful, diagonal run before rifling home an angled shot and sub Ryan Duncan scored late on with a cross from the right that outfoxed everyone before finding its way into the net. Livi substitute James Penrice refused to point the finger at Fitzwater post-match and made it clear that losing five goals, even with a numerical disadvantage, cannot be accepted.
‘He (Fitzwater) is obviously disappointed,’ said Penrice. ‘We were comfortable in the game.
‘He probably thinks he has let the boys down, but it’s everyone really. There was a host of problems during the game and we all need to do better.
‘We had plenty of the ball and we were creating chances. If Fitzy didn’t get sent off, it might have been different, but what happened after that was not acceptable.’
ABERDEEN (4-2-3-1): Roos 8; Richardson 6, Stewart 7, Scales 7, Coulson 7 (MacKenzie 79); McCrorie 7, Ramadani 7; Besuijen 7 (Kennedy 73), Clarkson 6 (Lopes 56), Hayes 7 (Morris 72); Miovski 8 (Duncan 79). Subs not used: Lewis, Watkins, Polvara, Milne. Booked: None. LIVINGSTON (4-3-2-1): George 4; Devlin 4, Fitzwater 2, Obileye 4, Montano 4 (Longridge 67); Holt 5 (Penrice 67), Kelly 4 (Cancar 46), Omeonga 4; Shinnie 5 (Brandon 67), Pittman 5; Nouble 5 (Goncalves 67). Subs not used: Konovalov, Hamilton, Mullin, Bitsindou. Booked: Montano, Holt, Cancar, Brandon. Sent-off: Fitzwater. Man of the match: Bojan Miovski. Referee: Colin Steven. Attendance: 13,739.