Keeper’s heroics drove Dons round the bend
It was one-way traffic at Tannadice. But a Tangerine roadblock denied Aberdeen the win their dominance deserved.
The Dons controlled their contest with Dundee United from start to finish.
Yet a string of stunning saves from Tangerines stopper Benjamin Siegrist – plus the failure of referee Alan Muir to award Aberdeen a clear penalty – denied them all three points.
In the aftermath, Dons boss Derek Mcinnes cut a frustrated figure.
“A lot of the performance was good,” he said. “But we were guilty of not taking care of that final pass, we were wasteful with chances and we’ve got to look at ourselves for that.
“Like every team we’re looking for the right decisions at the right time and there were a couple of penalty-kick claims – one in particular where wee Lawrence handballs it. “It’s a penalty kick every day of the week.” The return from injury of first choice keeper Siegrist gave United a pre-match boost.
And positives were something the Tangerines were keen to offer their fans after an indifferent few weeks on the park.
A dismal defeat to Livingston at Tannadice in their last Premiership fixture was followed by a heartening demolition of League Two Brechin City in the Betfred Cup.
But a home loss to part-time Peterhead and a narrow win over Kelty Hearts sparked a mini social media backlash.
Aberdeen, on the other hand, travelled to Tannadice full of confidence.
With eight wins from 11 games this season, the Dons had been in terrific form – and they started on the front foot.
They called Siegrist into action just two minutes in when Jonny Hayes had a ping from distance, which the United goalie got down sharply to stop. The visitors should have been ahead soon afterwards when Ryan Hedges sent Scott Wright clear, but Siegrist made a crucial intervention to send the ball looping into the air, giving Mark Connolly time to clear off the line.
United’s keeper saved their bacon again with another good save from a Hedges strike before 15 minutes had passed.
The Tangerines were struggling to live with the Dons’ high tempo and high pressing
– and the home side were very lucky to survive a huge penalty shout when Lawrence Shankland handled a Ross Mccrorie header on the line. The Aberdeen appeal was vociferous and sustained – but whistler Alan Muir, who must have been looking elsewhere, wasn’t interested.
The Dons, fuelled by injustice, came close to opening the scoring twice more before the break, first when Jonny Hayes’ cross-cumshot ran just beyond Hedges at the back post and out for a goal-kick, then when Siegrist denied Wright, who should have done better from 12 yards after being found unmarked by Hedges.
United simply weren’t at the races in an attacking sense – and the pattern continued into the second half.
The Tangerines could not string passing moves together while their oponents were comfortable in possession and first to almost every second ball.
United did threaten vaguely after substitute Marc Mcnulty, on for the quiet Nicky Clark, tried to slot Callum Butcher in on goal, but the United midfielder’s effort was blocked by Andy Considine.
A switch to a 4-4-2 just after the hour gave United more of a foothold, but still Aberdeen kept knocking on the door.
United’s man of the day Siegrist got down exceptionally well to save a Niall Mcginn free-kick with 15 minutes to go.
But United looked sturdier than before and almost snatched a stunning late winner when Logan Chalmers found himself one-on-one with Joe Lewis, only for the Dons keeper to deny the youngster his first senior goal.