Dundee 0
Aberdeen 0
League (Premier Division)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from The Courier.

Penalty appeals which are turned down are part and parcel of football. More often than not they are hardly worth mentioning as they are, basically, over-reaction by the side claiming the award.

Not so in the Ne'er Day game between Dundee and Aberdeen at Dens Park. When, in the 32nd minute, Scotland and Aberdeen centre-half Alex. McLeish sent Dundee striker Graham Harvey crashing to the ground, even the most faithful Aberdeen supporter must have cringed in anticipation.

But referee J. R. S. Renton, of Cowdenbeath, waved play on. The groand was slippy and he may have had in mind that McLeish couldn't stop on the surface.

That is no excuse. It was a foul and inside the box. As Dens manager Archie Knox leapt from the dug-out in protest and was lectured for it-1 felt a degree of sympathy for him. His side were in complete command of the game, there was a distinct possibility that a run of 12 successive defeats from Aberdeen in the Premier League at Dens was about to be changed, then this happened.

That said, the final divide of the points was just about right, as the home side dominated the first half and Aberdeen had the major share of the second. And maybe Aberdeen fans would counter the penalty claim by pointing to a goal they might have had in the 77th minute, but for Bobby Geddes.

"He is pulling off one unbelievable save every game is well as many good saves, manager Archie Knox said afterwards.

This "unbelievable" one came when Billy Stark rose in the goalmouth and only a few yards out to head firmly at goal. That was bad enough for Dundee, but when the ball took a deflection off Bobby Glennie it seemed all over bar the shouting.

And the shouting came-but from the Dens fans. Somehow Geddes kept the ball out. So maybe if it had been 1-1 instead of 0-0!

The game had started as if the 22 players felt they, too, should be on a day off. There was activity, but little positive action.

Then, in 18 minutes, Bobby Connor was booked for a sliding tackle on McKimmie. What this seemed to do to Connor was inspire him! He and John Brown fuelled Dundee into all-out effort. Aberdeen were pinned back for almost all the rest of the half.

Even the international duo of McLeish and Willie Miller showed the strain with uncharacteristic hurried clearances as Connor and Brown set up Stephen for a great shot which Leighton did well to get to; Connor provided an opening for Brown which the big man fumbled; Connor had a snap shot which hit McLeish and slipped just past the post with Leighton scrambling.

Black brought out a great save by Geddes just to prove nothing could be taken for granted and, as play swung to the other end, came the penalty claim for McLeish's tackle on Harvey.

The immediate effect was to slow down the Dark Blues, but they soon geared up again for a Connor shot to be deflected for a corner, a Harvey effort to be driven straight at Leighton, before the Dundee striker was talked to for a tackle from behind on Willie Miller.

Strangely, it was a booking for one of their players which signalled the start of Aberdeen's second half comeback. Cooper appeared to strike Stephen in the face after a free kick haad been awarded and his name went into referee Renton's book.

Within minutes Willie Miller, who had been defending desperately most of the first period, strolled upfield to deliver an inch-perfect cross-which was somehow missed by no fewer than eight players inside the penalty box!

Aberdeen were more like themselves from then on. Players who had been going through the motions in the first half started to work and they started to stretch Dundee's defence by using the wings.

Stark held his hands up in despair when a great shot knifed through the Dundee defence only to slip a couple of inches outside the post-and he was even more astonished when Geddes brought off his "unbelievable" save.

Not that Dundee were completely out of it. Harvey had another shot straight at Leighton and there was another claim for a penalty when McLeish appeared to handle the ball.

Then, two minutes from the end, Stephen went to the bye- line, but sent a weak cross straight to Willie Miller when several team-mates were perfectly positioned inside the box.

"We are just not getting the breaks," said Dons manager Alex Ferguson afterwards, obviously thinking about things other than the McLeish trouble.

"We won't get to the bye-line as often again for the rest of the season, but didn't profit from it. We were a bit more like our selves second-half and, as they say, 'from little acorns...!"

The Archie Knox view was that, "We didn't play second half, but we have a point at the end of it. Mind you, I believe we did enough first half to have got a goal, or maybe even two." He refused to discuss the "penalty" incident.

Dundee have now taken eight points from six games, conceded only two goals in the last five games, the last three of which have seen "shut-outs."

It proved that their defensive capability now compares with the best, but, equally, highlights the lack of scoring power with no goals in the last three games despite numerous chances created.

The Dundee team was predictable - Geddes; Glennie, McKinlay, Kidd, Smith, Duffy, Shannon, Brown, Harvey, Connor, Stephen (with subs Rafferty and Hendry replacing Kidd and Harvey late on), but Aberdeen's line-up was minus a lot of big names - Leighton; McKimmie, McQueen, Stark, McLeish, W. Miller, Black, Gray, Falconer, Cooper, J. Miller (with subs Wright and Angus replacing Falconer and Gray).

For Dundee, Geddes and his back four of Smith, Duffy, Glennie and McKinlay were outstanding, with Shannon showing, in midfield, that he is developing into a top-class professional.

Connor throughout and Brown, in the first half, also deserved praise, while Stephen battled bravely and Harvey proved, yet again, that he has great ability in holding up the ball for others. His shooting, though, leaves much to be desired. Kidd tried hard with little success.

Aberdeen had a lot to thank Leighton, McLeish and Willie Miller for and are still well short of their capability.