Hectic Aberdeen schedule could be make or break for Robson

Objective done, get down the road, get the job done and get back up the road unscathed. Aberdeen came through their Scottish Gas Scottish Cup 4th round tie with League Two side Clyde with relative comfort thanks to goals from Bojan Miovski, his 16th of the season and the ever-impressive Nicky Devlin who ensured Aberdeen’s name would be in the hat for yesterday’s fifth round draw.

I was not surprised that manager Barry Robson picked the same starting XI and formation that so impressively beat Ross County 3-0 up in Dingwall back at the beginning of the month. There was a touch of rustiness to our play but once we got into our flow there was always going to be one outcome.

Aberdeen needed a Bully Wee reminder that full concentration would be required throughout the game when Connor Young’s curling shot came crashing back off the post midway through the first half.

Thankfully for Aberdeen this was the wake-up call that was needed, and we sparked into life. Just after the half-hour mark Jamie McGrath and Nicky Delvin combined well to provide that glimmer of hope for Bojan Miovski, he did not disappoint and executed a tremendous finish past Clyde keeper Jack Leighfield. I have no doubt the next nine days are going to test our resolve as a club when it comes to our Bojan, I’m still very confident he will remain our number 9 come next week. The break came at a good time, get the lads in, remind them of their jobs and go back out and finish the job.

The game as a contest was effectively over just before the hour mark when Aberdeen full-back Nicky Delvin latched on to a superb through ball from the ever-improving Dante Polvara and slotted home to give the Dons a commanding 2-0 lead. That was his 3rd goal of the campaign so far. From there I wondered how we would see the game out and thankfully our game management was at it’s finest by keeping possession and more importantly keeping Clyde pinned in. A job well done.

Before the fifth-round ties come around again on the 10th of February Aberdeen face a hectic schedule with games coming thick and fast in the Scottish Premiership. Next up we travel to Perth to face a St Johnstone side who have only won four games all season. It’s always a tricky game down there. Just three days later and without much training time Barry Robson’s side face a very difficult away game against Hearts at Tynecastle. I see no reason why we can’t take something from Steven Naismith’s side but how we set up will determine the outcome. Will Barry be brave and stick to four at the back? The following Tuesday we welcome former Aberdeen assistant manager Tony Docherty back to Pittodrie as he brings his well-organised Dundee side north before we face back-to-back games against Celtic and Rangers respectively. By this stage will we have kick started our season and began the steady climb back up the table. Time will tell but this much football in such a short space of time, for us the fans, I love it!

Just to finish off if there is one element of sports broadcasting that I cannot abide it’s when the commentary or studio team get their facts wrong. Having the correct facts can make all the difference to the credibility of the broadcaster. It was brought to my attention on more than one occasion last night that during the BBC’s airing of the game they mentioned that “Willie Miller was the last Aberdeen captain to lift the famous old trophy 34 years ago".

This is incorrect, it was in fact Alex McLeish who skippered the side to Aberdeen’s penalty shoot-out victory against Celtic back in 1990. Willie Miller was injured and unable to play against Celtic. The last time Willie Miller lifted the Scottish Cup was back in 1986 after we beat Hearts 3-0 in the final. Surely it does not take much to check these facts, a quick google search or skim through YouTube will provide everything you need to be fully prepared for the show. In my opinion you can never do enough research! Thanks for reading.