JENKS ON HAND TO SEAL WIN FOR DONS
Teddy strike sparks Saints fury
FAIR play to Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass for his honesty. He admitted afterwards that the reaction of St Johnstone’s players alone told him that Teddy Jenks had handled the ball before rifling home a late winner and conceded that the game had been crying out for a bit of quality to make the difference.
He was absolutely correct on both counts.
The goal, itself, caused real controversy and evident anger on the pitch. Home wing-back Callum Booth had to be guided away from referee Greg Aitken at time-up for his own good. Saints goalkeeper Zander Clark also couldn’t prevent himself, having charged from his goal to remonstrate in the aftermath of the clinching strike, from making eye contact with the official on the way off the park and shaking his head in dismay.
Saints were already angry at Aitken’s decision to award a freekick with six minutes to play for a Liam Craig challenge on Lewis Ferguson. When Funso Ojo put a long ball from the set-piece into the area, an attempted clearance fell to Jenks, thrown on for Jay EmmanuelThomas earlier in the second period, he controlled it with his arm to spark the home protests.
This is where the quality came into play. Jenks played to the whistle, blocked out the home screams and unleashed a terrific snapshot that flew into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
That’s three wins in a row for the Dons for the first time since September 2020. Back in the top six. The overall standard of their display, particularly in a second half that became really scrappy and saw Saints striker Chris Kane denied by the woodwork at 0-0, can wait for another day.
‘I’ve not seen (the goal) back, but you can take a lot from the reactions of players,’ said Glass. ‘There is a high probability it was a handball.
‘I don’t know if the ref has seen it or decided it is not a handball. The moment of quality from Teddy is the bit that I am seeing. I saw the finish and it was fantastic.
‘First half, we were good and moved it around well on a difficult pitch.
‘They had a lot of opportunities, not a lot of them clear-cut, but there was a threat. I think the game was crying out for a bit of quality and Teddy gave it.
‘We knew what he could offer us. It was something different to what JET was giving us. He kept us up the park, took the ball in well and helps defensively, so it was a pretty offensive change.
‘We felt Teddy would give us a different threat in behind and we are delighted for him.
‘I am delighted for the reward the players have got as well. It is easy to come here and not be at it and lose. St Johnstone are a good team and Callum has them fighting.
‘They are in a difficult spell at the minute, but you know it is tough here and that a lot of teams will come here and not win.’
On this form, though, not many will lose. St Johnstone don’t score often enough to make that happen. Nine goals in 16 league games tells its own story and for huge periods of this game, that lack of invention and spark was all too clear to see.
They now sit bottom of the table on goal difference. As if to remind fans of how things used to be, the Scottish Cup and League Cup were brought out by club staff and taken over to the Fair City Unity supporters group
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Yesterday’s victory in Perth was the first time Aberdeen had won three consecutive games in over a year
on the far side of the ground for a photo opportunity.
They should have brought Ali McCann back up from Preston and had him standing beside them. It is hard to watch St Johnstone these days and not feel, amid the horrible injuries, the dodgy decisions and the sale of ex-captain Jason Kerr, the loss of the Northern Ireland cap’s drive in the engine room has been perhaps the biggest factor in their demise.
Saints have just completed a deal for 31-year-old Aussie free transfer Jacob Butterfield, but he will have to be something special to change the direction of traffic here.
Aberdeen took control in the early stages with Emmanuel-Thomas rising above Booth in the area on 25 minutes to send a powerful header in on goal. Zander Clark was quick to react, though, and produced an excellent full-length save.
Without Clark, who will surely leave sooner rather than later, Lord knows where Saints would be.
The home side did have a decent chance 10 minutes before the break when a Craig Bryson header from a Booth cross looked on target before ricocheting off the legs of Ross McCrorie. But it was the Dons who closed the first half strongest with Ferguson appearing to hit the near post with a header from an Ojo corner.
Aberdeen struggled to maintain that momentum after the break and goalkeeper Joe Lewis, a relative bystander in the first half, began to get involved.
He produced an excellent save to his right from a Shaun Rooney howitzer from 30 yards and then needed the frame of the goal to save him just after the hour.
Kane got his head to an Ali Crawford cross and must have felt he had scored when beating Lewis’s full-length dive to his left. However, the ball hit off the inside of the post and was cleared.
It looked as though it was going to end up goalless. It would have been a fair end to a messy match that looked destined to deliver little more other than bookings, pushing matches, niggle between Scott Brown and Eetu Vertainen and a real lack of quality.
That’s when Jenks stepped up with his very own Hand of God and a sweet right-foot shot sent straight from the angels.
ST JOHNSTONE (3-4-1-2): Clark; Brown, Gordon, McCart; Rooney (Solomon-Otabor 87), Bryson, Craig, Booth; Crawford (O’Halloran 87); Kane, Middleton (Vertainen 61). Subs (not used): Parish, Dendoncker, Devine, Moreland. Booked: Craig, Rooney. ABERDEEN (4-2-3-1): Lewis; Ojo, McCrorie, Bates, Hayes; Brown, Ferguson; Watkins (McLennan 74), Emmanuel-Thomas (Jenks 65), Hedges; Ramirez. Subs (not used): Woods, MacKenzie, Gallagher, Samuels, Campbell. Booked: Watkins, Bates, Ramirez.
Greg Aitken.