On-fire Dons hit target with barrage of shots
ABERDEEN 3 Hedges (23), Ramírez (44), Ferguson (90+2) EDINBURGH CITY 0
It was three and easy as Aberdeen cruised into the fifth round of the Scottish Cup but Stephen Glass insists they should have scored more.
First-half goals from Ryan Hedges and Christian Ramirez were followed by a Lewis Ferguson injury-time header.
However, Aberdeen hit the frame of the goal no fewer than three times and passed up enough chances to more than double the winning margin.
That was the only frustration for the Pittodrie club’s manager on a day when his side had 32 shots at goal – an average of more than one every three minutes during what was a straight forward afternoon for the Premiership side.
Substitute Jay Emmanuel-thomas was the worst offender, hitting the bar in front of an open goal after being set up by the excellent Funso Ojo.
But Glass could afford to be forgiving and said: “I think the way we approached the first half made the game easier.
“We would have liked more goals in the second half but they made it difficult and the quality wasn’t quite there in the final third.
“There’s more opportunities than that, with Jet’s the obvious one, and we should be finding the corner a little bit better.
“It’s a lesson because if they threatened a touch more, it could get a little bit edgy if they chuck one in and score a goal.”
“We were able to give a young guy his debut as well. We put the trust in Connor Bannon at half-time to bring him on.”
The youngster, who spent the first half of the season on loan at Kelty Hearts, played well in what was also a good day for his
former side.
Glass showed he learned his lesson after his own early season shock after making seven changes to a team that lost to Raith Rovers in the League Cup.
That started a 10-game run without a win so there was no surprise the Dons manager
went with the same starting XI that drew with Rangers in midweek.
They were always going to have too much class for a side 30 places below them and one that had lost to Hearts U21s in the SPFL Trust Trophy.
And that was exactly how it worked out, with the Dons dominating the game virtually from start to finish.
Hedges finally broke the deadlock after 23 minutes after good work by Ojo and Jonny Hayes before constant pressure was rewarded with a second before the break.
Ojo and Hedges combined to allow Ramirez to ram the ball in to the roof of
the net from the former USA cap’s 13th of the season.
Ferguson rounded things off with a looping header in the second minute of stoppage time at the end of a one-sided game.
In fact, it took 85 minutes before the visitors forced Joe Lewis into anything like
serious action when the goalkeeper blocked Anthony Mcdonald’s shot.
By that time the tie was well out of reach, but Edinburgh City’s manager Gary Naysmith could be pleased with his players commitment.
His only complaint was that they lost two of their three goals at the end of each half but that was after tough shifts in both periods.
Naysmith said: “How do we combat a team that played the way they did? I would have liked to have carried more of an attacking threat but Aberdeen were at it.
“I couldn’t have got more from my players. They were better than us and I wanted my players to enjoy that.
“They held on, albeit carrying a wee bit luck, but that could have been worse.”