ROONEY KING OF THE NORTH
THE narrative in the build-up to this game was of Stevie May facing his former club for the first time. The 24-year-old has been omnipresent in the Aberdeen starting line-up since he arrived from Preston North End for £400,000.
However, his presence has not deterred Adam Rooney, the Dons’ top scorer in the last three seasons, from maintaining his claim as the club’s main striker.
Rooney grabbed a hat-trick against St Johnstone as Aberdeen moved joint top of the table. For three minutes around 4.35pm yesterday — when Celtic were 2-1 down to Hibs — the Dons were clear on their own at the summit of the Premiership. Aberdeen have not clicked so far this season, but they are now undefeated in their first eight league matches, are level on points with Celtic, and are six ahead of their nearest challengers for second last season, Rangers.
There was a fluidity to Aberdeen’s attack which made them difficult to play against. May was essentially the one leading the line with three — Rooney, Ryan Christie and Greg Stewart — playing off him. However, May would also drop deep and allow Rooney, who was stationed primarily on the left, to take over as the man on his own up top.
Christie would often overlap and Stewart would cut in from the right side, and that freedom meant that Saints were chasing shadows in the opening exchanges. After just seven minutes, the hosts went ahead. May swung in a free-kick towards the front post and Rooney earned himself five yards in a crowded box to stoop low and head past visiting goalkeeper Alan Mannus.
It was clearly a trainingground set-piece which had been executed superbly. There appears to be an almost telepathic understanding between May and Rooney.
Aberdeen came again and Graeme Shinnie, playing at left-back in the absence of the injured Andrew Considine, saw his right-foot effort from 20 yards pushed wide.
Rooney then turned a Stewart delivery goalbound, only for it to be held by Mannus.
St Johnstone looked disorganised defensively and they soon found themselves two behind.
Perth boss Tommy Wright had set up with a five-man rearguard, with Aaron Comrie and Scott Tanser acting as wing-backs, but the system was not working. The three in midfield were overrun by the massed Aberdeen ranks and lost too many second balls.
At the next goal, Saints were too slow to react. May was not shut down quickly enough when he received Christie’s short corner, Anthony O’Connor had too much space at the front post to flick the cross on, and Rooney was unmarked at the back to convert his second header of the afternoon.
Saints’ tactic of soaking up opposition pressure and hitting on the break was thrown out of the window by Aberdeen’s good start.
Stewart sliced over after a neat one-two with Christie and the latter saw an effort with the outside of his boot smothered by Mannus.
After their initial shakiness, the Saints backline began to grow into the game. However, they were creating very little in the final third, and a Paul Paton half-volley which flew high into the Richard Donald Stand was the closest they came to pulling one back.
Tanser and Paton were taken off and replaced by Chris Millar and David Wotherspoon at half-time as Wright looked to shake things up, but the visitors continued to offer little going forward, while maintaining a tighter-looking rearguard.
May had a claim for a penalty turned down when he fell over under the attention of Steven Anderson, but any signs of the visitors’ defensive capitulation in the first 20 minutes seemed to be gone.
Joe Lewis, the Aberdeen goalkeeper, had the easiest outing of all those on the pitch. And the Dons’ centraldefensive partnership did not need to operate at more than a canter. Yet although the pairing of Scott McKenna and Kari Arnason was rarely tested, the mixture of youth and experience looked capable.
With the game seemingly petering out, Rooney was gifted the chance to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot. Christie was fouled by Denny Johnstone, and from 12 yards, Rooney beat Mannus.
At full-time, Shinnie jogged off the pitch and grabbed the match ball for Rooney.
May contributed to this victory, but his No9 colleague will take some ousting as the main man in the Granite City.