Demolition derby delights Dons gaffer
ABERDEEN 4 Miovski (pen. 24, 37), Clarkson (45), Duk (87)
ST MIRREN 1 Ayunga (pen. 53)
Aberdeen manager Jim Goodwin was delighted with the demolition of the St Mirren side he left behind but refused to get carried away by the result.
A Bojan Miovski double and goals from Liverpool’s on-loan midfielder Leighton Clarkson and Luis Lopes saw the Dons ease to victory against 10-man Buddies.
Former Dons stopper Declan Gallagher was sent off early and Aberdeen turned on the style for their biggest win under Goodwin.
There was plenty to be pleased with and he said: “We’re delighted with the result and performance.
“What we won’t do, though, is get carried away as we did play for a long spell against 10 men.
“As always, there are always parts we could do better but I can’t be too critical of the overall performance.”
Poor Gallagher had a miserable time as an Aberdeen player and his return to Pittodrie with St Mirren was equally traumatic. The former Scotland defender’s time in the north-east was hampered by injury, leading to a fresh start at Paisley earlier in the summer.
His return was no better, lasting just 22 minutes after two quick yellow cards brought the inevitable dismissal.
The first was for a scything tackle on Hayden Coulson that saw the left-back taken off injured in 12 minutes and the second for conceding a penalty.
Gallagher appeared to handle when trying to block Liam Scales’ shot in the box. Miovski converted the spot-kick.
From then on it was largely just a case of how many Aberdeen would go on to score.
It didn’t help that the normally reliable Trevor Carson was badly at fault as Miovski stole in to claim his second in 37 minutes.
The goalkeeper waited flat-footed to collect a Jonny Hayes cross, allowing the North Macedonia international to get in front and score.
Not that there was anything he could do to prevent Clarkson marking his Dons debut with a stunning strike before the break.
The youngster only arrived on loan from Liverpool on Friday night and was flung into action after just nine minutes when Coulson went off with ankle ligament damage.
It was an impressive debut, with his passing as precise and effective as you would expect from someone brought up in Liverpool’s academy.
Not only that as he produced a terrific 25-yard drive into the top left-hand corner of Carson’s net on the stroke of half-time.
The only consolation under pressure Buddies boss Stephen Robinson could take was his players didn’t lack commitment.
They even pulled a goal back with a penalty of their own when Hayes barged into Greg Kiltie, allowing Jonah Ayunga to score his fifth goal of the season.
It did need Carson to show his true form to deny Miovski a hat-trick and Vincente Besuijen a goal with a superb double save.
What St Mirren couldn’t combat was Aberdeen’s strength in depth with players the quality of Christian Ramirez and Luis Lopes on the bench.
The pair came on to good effect with the American’s reverse pass sending the former Benfica winger clear to complete the scoring three minutes from time.
Buddies boss Stephen Robinson said:“I can’t ask for too much more in terms of effort and application. We could have better quality and decision making at times, but I’m not going to get too down about it.
“Results are results, they’ve not been what we want so far but we’ve got another opportunity to rectify that on Saturday.”