Winning hearts & grinds
Robson chalks up another win after Andy’s early red
Barry Robson is doing his best to keep a lid on things at Pittodrie but his Dons revival is all of a sudden starting to get extremely exciting.
Aberdeen had to dig deep to make it four Premiership wins on the spin with victory against a spirited St Johnstone side who deserved more after battling for 90 minutes with 10 men.
But Robson has managed to forge a granite core to a side who previously had a soft centre – and they are now just one point behind Hearts in the fight to be best of the rest.
Unlucky Saints keeper Remi Matthews accidentally bundled the ball in to his own net in the first half to pile more agony on a team who already had Andy Considine sent off on his 36th birthday. That came after barely five minutes when VAR decided his slight tug on Bojan Miovski was outside of the box – but merited a red.
Graeme Shinnie was also sent packing in stoppage-time but Aberdeen managed to grind it out and it’s game on for the Europa League spot – and the £3million bounty it could bring.
But Robson – boss until the end of the season – said: “We’ve not achieved anything.
“I said to the players, get the heads down, keep working, move on.” Opposite number Callum Davidson’s frustration was understandable. The red card scuppered his gameplan – and his side’s bright start.
Dons keeper Kelle Roos was forced into an early double save when he kept out Liam Gordon’s drive and got back up in time to block Drey Wr ight at the back post.
Considine’s slight touch on Miovski changed the flow and the Dons set up camp.
Aberdeen surged ahead when Angus MacDonald clipped Jonny Hayes’ whipped corner goalward only for Matthews to block – then knock into his own net with a trailing leg.
In fairness, Saints kept plugging away and had a shout for a penalty when Dons stopper Liam Scales had his hands on Stevie May’s back.
And they were pulling their hair out in the second period when they couldn’t turn pressure into at least a point.
May should have done better with a free header and there were several moments of sheer panic in the Aberdeen penalty area when the Perth men just couldn’t find the final touch.
Shinnie’s red card for scything down Wright balanced the sides and Aberdeen had to hang on in the end – with Roos superbly making another double save in stoppage-time.
Robson has five wins in seven games but the only downside was Shinnie’s sending-off.
The gaffer said: “Come on, I got a player sent off and it’s never a sending off. VAR can’t even look at that.
“It’s frustrating because that’s our captain missing for the next game.”