Pittodrie men pocket ticket to Europe
THE redemption may have started for Danny Swanson yesterday but he couldn’t quite complete St Johnstone’s salvation as Aberdeen confirmed European football next season.
Swanson, along with team-mate Richard Foster, were recalled to Tommy Wright’s squad a fortnight after their punch-up on the Hamilton pitch which led to a severe skelp across the knuckles.
At least their appearance in the team lines here quashed rumours that the sparring duo were set to star on the under card for last night’s Ricky Burns fight.
It took St Johnstone a while to get up for this particular fight, though. Swanson, who came off the bench in the first half amid a tactical reshuffling, scored from the penalty spot to give the hosts some hope after Aberdeen had forged a deserved 2-0 lead in the opening period, but it was too little, too late.
“Danny was a real bright spark when he came on and gave us that bit of quality but I just wish we had started the game earlier,” lamented Wright, whose side remain four points ahead of Hearts in the scramble to secure fourth place in the Premiership. “We were more on the front foot after the break but we made it too easy for them in the first half.”
A tidy opener from Ryan Christie and a calamitous own goal from Tam Scobbie had the Dons looking decidedly dandy and while St Johnstone rallied after the break, Aberdeen showed a tenacious edge to dig in and thwart the advances. The win, which cemented their position in second, confirmed a top-three finish and secured a place in the Europa League qualifiers.
“The first half was everything I could have wanted,” said Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes. “We dealt with it all brilliantly. What I didn’t want was to give them an opportunity to get back into it and, unfortunately, we did. At 2-1, questions were asked of us, but despite a lot of pressure from St Johnstone we kept their chances to a minimum.”
With St Johnstone huffing and puffing throughout the opening period, a composed Aberdeen dictated proceedings with their considered, purposeful probings.
The opening goal, after 19 minutes, was hardly a surprise. Christie played a nifty give and go with Adam Rooney, waltzed into the danger zone and plonked a nice finish past Alan Mannus.
With Johnny Hayes flinging a few menacing crosses in from the left, St Johnstone looked jittery. A second Aberdeen goal arrived from this particular route just after the half-hour. Hayes hurled one into the six yard box and Scobbie cushioned the ball into his own net as he tried to avert the danger.
Within a couple of minutes of the resumption, St Johnstone were offered the chance to establish a foothold. Steven MacLean was clumsily bundled over in the area and Swanson scored from the resulting penalty.
Not long after that, Swanson surged towards the Aberdeen goal but seemed to shoot too early when he could have ploughed on, and his tame effort dribbled harmlessly wide. It was the best opening of the second half.