Dons steal the show at Pittodrie

Aberdeen Dundee United 1 0

SATURDAY at Six! It’s the only show in town, especially if you were an Aberdeen fan in the 17,000-strong crowd at Pittodrie and watched your team grab the points to cement third place in the Premiership table.

Bojan Miovski’s penalty kick on 37 minutes proved a deserved winner in a compelling contest as the Red Army applauded their heroes at the end and the 2000 Dundee United supporters thought of drowning their sorrows as their team slumped to the bottom of the league table.

Dons manager Jim Goodwin, was understandably pleased with the outcome.

He said: “If you had offered me a scrappy 1-0 win before the game I would certainly have taken it. We looked in complete control in the first half.

“In the second half, we were quite happy to give up territory and allow Dundee United possession of the ball.

“Third place in the table was our short-term objective prior to the break. There are elements of frustration that we could have been four or five points better off but that’s just me being greedy.”

The breakthrough in a firsthalf in which the Pittodrie outfit had the upper hand, saw a re-run of the penalty-kick incident that brought the Dons a controversial goal eight days earlier, thrashing Hibs 4-1.

This time, rather than David

Marshall felling Luis “Duk” Lopes as he did the previous week, it was United keeper Mark Birighitti whose dive took him down as the bustling attacker raced in on goal from Miovski’s through pass.

The North Macedonia internationalist completed the double act from the spot, his 11th league goal of the campaign. The points were in the bag and Pittodrie erupted.

The visitors, however, had been no slouches. Their movement was attractive, their passing crisp while stood firm to protect their lead.

In a second half that saw Aberdeen allow their opponents more of the ball, they still came close a couple of times. At the other end, United defender Ross Graham rescued his team from a Leighton Clarkson effort while Kieran Freeman, virtually on the goal-line, headed away a Ross McCrorie attempt.

United manager Liam Fox insisted there were positives to take from his side’s play.

He said: “I’m really pleased with the second-half showing and I think we pushed Aberdeen. They are third in the table for a reason.

“We’ve got work to do, we know that, but we’ve got a long time on the training pitch because of the World Cup break, which is good, and I’m looking forward to it.”