AND so, it began. Life after Derek McInnes for Aberdeen was always going to be an anomaly of sorts after his eight year stay at Pittodrie.
And predictably, his footprint was still very much evident yesterday in his former side’s performance as Dundee United earned a deserved win over their new firm rivals.
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Adrian Sporle’s second half goal scored on 61 minutes split the sides. The visitors created little in a performance that summated their season, ponderous and lacking a real goal threat. But for the hosts, who in the end missed out on the top-six by just one point, this was another encouraging result in a season that has shown progression.
Notably, the home side also chose not to take a knee before kick-off to show solidarity with Glen Kamara and Kemar Roofe. “It was a decision by the players and I fully back them on it,” said manager Micky Mellon.
“They made that decision and wanted to show support for the players at Rangers. They felt that not enough was getting done and taking a knee had just become a gesture. They wanted to take their stand today and say that they want more done.”
Neither United nor Aberdeen have been great entertainers this season, the evidence of which in their two goalless meetings before kick-off this season and respective goal records. Aberdeen had averaged one goal a game this season before play and United a lesser 0.87. Watching your football team in these times after all is meant to be an escape but with only one goal in McInnes’ last nine matches at the helm, there was little departure for Aberdeen supporters.
Paul Sheerin’s first game as interim manager saw Aberdeen line up in a 4-3-3, a change of shape from this season’s token back three which led to seldom creation of chances. He also gave a debut to Jack McKenzie at left back. United lined up in the same shape offensively but transitioned to a diamond defensively.
Normally consigned to wing-back roles this season, Jonny Hayes and Connor McLellan’s higher starting positions was a notable positive early on. A quick transition down the right after six minutes allowed McLennan the space to pick Dean Campbell out at the edge of the box, but his deflected effort clipped the post. Hayes then saw a trademark left-footed drive tipped around the post by Benjiman Siegrist. A Jeandro Fuchs effort blazed over the shed was all to write home about for the hosts.
The restart brought with it a greater intensity as both sides sought to gain control of an open game. Each had penalty shouts waved away either side of half-time, with Lewis Ferguson booked in his attempt to win a penalty and Campbell not punished when the hosts claimed hand ball.
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Lawrence Shankland wasn’t included in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad this week, despite an upturn of form in recent months. The inclusion of Sporle and on this occasion, Marc McNulty has offered the 25-year-old support that was void over the winter period and he has in turn started to fulfil what was expected of him in the Premiership.
It was the efforts of Shankland that would create the only goal. Fuchs did superbly well to retrieve a ball that looked to have been ushered out by McKenzie and find Shankland. The 25-year-old showed great skill in a tight area to exchange passes with McNulty and pick out Sporle 10 yards from goal who on his weaker right foot found the bottom corner.
“The move and the way we played in and around the box is something we work on very hard all the time. How they went and executed it was fantastic,” Mellon added.
Aberdeen supporters would have justifiably been disappointed to see little difference from recent weeks and they never truly threatened the home side’s lead for the remainder of the half, aside from a Ross McCrorie free header that flew over. Improvements were obvious in their ball distribution, but it wasn’t hard to believe that this was a side who last scored from open play since January 10.
“I thought in terms of our build up play and getting into the final third a lot of it was good,” Sheerin said.
“We encouraged that {to play out from the back}, we encouraged them to be braver in terms of our play. They did do that and they did pass it well. I can’t really make excuses for the bit in the final third, we just need to keep striving to better.”
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