Dundee 0
Aberdeen 4
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from Don John | The Courier .

There's no disgrace in being beaten by Aberdeen, fast heading for the Premier League title again. It was the margin, and the manner, of the 4-0 defeat that shattered Dundee fans at Dens on Saturday.

The margin was the heaviest home defeat of the senson, in stark contrast to recent solid and tight performances by Archie Knox's team. The manner? Well, it was a real day of daze for the home defence in particular. Two of Aberdeen's goals were sheer giveaways.

Yet, for 42 minutes of the first half, Dundee held their own, were just as threatening as the Dons, and had a very bright opening spell. But threat is no substitute for goals.

Just as Archie Knox was planning how to sort out his team for an even better second half, the second half became a formality.

In the space of two crazy minutes, with Dundee twice on attack, a couple of slick Aberdeen break-outs led to two goals, proving the deadly finishing qualities of the champions.

First, Dundee's defence got themselves all snarled up, allowing Eric Black to race through and score with clinical accuracy

Still in a daze Dundee were immediately hit again when Billy Stark finished off a flowing move. The whistle to end the first half sounded just after.

"Incredible" was Alex. Ferguson's description of the victory though he admitted a 2-0 lead at half-time was unjust as far as Dundee's display was concerned.

"Superb" was the Aberdeen manager's praise for his front three, Eric Black, John Hewitt and Steve Cowan, who exposed Dundee's defensive deficiencies-and also emphasised the lack of a marksman in the home ranks.

As Mr Knox said later, no team can give Aberdeen a two-goal lead and hope to survive.

When Dundee gave away a third just after the restart-making it a three-goal burst in six minutes of play-only a blizzard could have saved the home club.

This goal, too, was a blunder, as keeper Geddes and Jim Smith had a misunderstanding and Stark nipped in for his second goal of the day. A super header from Neil Simpson ended the scoring and ended the day for many Dundee supporters who departed quietly for home.

They had every right to do so, of course-but considering Dundee's run of good results until Saturday it was a bit hard...over 20 minutes remained.

Maybe, with such limited playing resources, the Dens Parkers were suffering a reaction from their cup efforts at Parkhead in midweek. Certainly they missed the suspended Bobby Glennie in defence.

So much of the damage was self-inflicted on Saturday it was easy to forget that Dundee did do well until these fatal two minutes just before the interval. They could even have been in the lead.

But these Dons proved, as they have been doing for a long time now, that they only need a sniff at goal to respond and unlike Dundee they have a long list of quality players capable of scoring in any game.

It was midfielder Stark on Saturday-it could be any one of half a dozen in the next match!