Clarkson shines as restocked Aberdeen rip apart 10-man St Mirren
Aberdeen 4 St Mirren 1
ABERDEEN’S new-look side breezed through this game as St Mirren crumpled under immense pressure with their manager Stephen Robinson insisting the Dons, having spent £1.5million on fresh summer recruits, are in a different league.
It was a performance and result that sent their longsuffering fans away with faith that the home team can claim some glory this season, especially if players like Liverpool academy starlet Leighton Clarkson can continue showing the dazzling form he did after coming on as a substitute.
Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin, however, tempered his joy with the recognition that his team’s task was made easier after the Buddies went down to 10 men early on.
He was pleased with around 70 per cent of the performance but thrilled with what Clarkson offered.
“People will talk about his goal,” he said, “but I thought his overall performance was excellent. He is really confident on the ball and suits the way we want to play.
“If he has ambitions to go and play for the Liverpool first team, then he’s got to come here and play and excel. He’s had a great education at Liverpool. He knows how we want to play, hence why he’s here.”
Rather like a new homeowner who declines the offer of the furniture already in place, Goodwin chose to bring in his own and the win confirmed that everything looks to be fitting the Pittodrie decor.
Aided and abetted by Declan Gallagher, one of the pieces left behind by his predecessor, Goodwin could not have been more pleased at the end of 90 compelling minutes.
Gallagher, booked for a robust ninth minute challenge on Middlesbrough loanee Hayden Coulson, who limped off to be replaced by Clarkson, lasted only 14 more minutes before the removal van arrived. The centre-back’s hand-ball in the Buddies’ penalty area from a Liam Scales rocket, gave the Dons the opener. Bojan Miovski’s conversion a minute later came as the defender was reaching the changing room.
If Goodwin was admiring his new furniture, Robinson had to re-arrange his, but it was of the deckchairs on the Titanic variety and when Clarkson, who has still to unpack his suitcase after signing a loan deal from Liverpool the previous night, blasted a sublime 25-yard strike past Trevor Carson, it brought the home supporters to their feet.
Worse was to follow for the visitors as well as their goalkeeper who, in the dying moments of the first half, seemed to have collected a low, nearpost ball, but instead allowed Jonny Hayes to nip in and clip it into the St Mirren net.
Questions like “how did that happen?” must have been buzzing through Carson’s mind.
By then, Aberdeen’s pace and their briskness of passing had run the Paisley side ragged and even a spot kick by Jonah Ayunga eight minutes into the second half following a needless Hayes challenge on Greg Kiltie, failed to offer hope that they could mount a meaningful comeback.
As the Red Army, offered little to cheer last season, called for more goals from their team’s constant bombardment of the opposition, Robinson did his best to encourage his men to believe that all was not lost.
It was; and when Luis Lopes, on for Hayes in the 72nd minute, raced towards a one-on-one with Carson 15 minutes later, his clever chip into the keeper’s far corner underlined Aberdeen’s undoubted superiority. Robinson accepted that.
He said: “Once the penalty decision and the red card happen, the game plan goes out the window. It’s a double whammy; you get hit by both.
“Aberdeen are a good team, they’ve spent a lot of money recruiting
that squad together. We’re not in that league.”