Alloa Athletic 1-2 Aberdeen: Dozy Dons do just enough

Published on Saturday 10 January 2009 19:21

Alloa Athletic 1 Scott 42 pen Aberdeen 2 Miller 9; Aluko 57

LIMP, listless and lacklustre, a deeply complacent Aberdeen side were lucky to leave the Wee County with their dignity barely intact. After recent embarrassing reversals in the Cup to Queen of the South and Queen's Park, anyone would have thought Jimmy Calderwood's men would have arrived at Recreation Park keen to dispense Alloa with the maximum of efficiency and minimum of fuss. Not a bit of it. Had they taken Prozac and played in concrete wellies they'd have been hard-pressed to look more laboured against a feisty Alloa side who belied their lowly league position.

Afterwards, Alloa manager Allan Maitland bemoaned his side's luck while Calderwood made no excuses, and he certainly didn't mention Alloa's plastic pitch. Nor should he because this was a quality surface which was mercifully bereft of the bobbles which produce cup upsets, and it should have been tailor-made for an SPL side which wants to pass the ball. It didn't look like it to start with though, and despite an early free-kick from Charlie Mulgrew that Alloa keeper Ray Jellema did well to save, the home side made the early running.

Aberdeen's defence has been the foundation of a solid season to date, but they looked anything but composed in the early skirmishes as the rain lashed down ever harder after the kick-off. Alloa could even have taken an early lead after a scudding free-kick from Brown Ferguson was deflected just wide of the floundering Jamie Langfield's post.

At times it looked as if Alloa were the only side up for the fight as they stormed forward in numbers, threatening to swamp the Dons rearguard. But against a side with the quality of the visitors, that sort of high-risk approach was potentially calamitous and when midielder John Grant's loose pass was picked up by the sprightly Sone Aluko on the halfway line the home side looked dangerously exposed. So it proved as Aluko skipped down the left wing, feeding Chris Maguire, who cut inside and fired a shot goalwards. The ball ricocheted off the chest of striker Lee Miller, wrongfooting Jellema and giving Aberdeen a lead that they barely deserved.

For much of the next 20 minutes Aberdeen controlled the game, patiently probing for the second goal that would make the tie theirs. Roving in from the left wing, Aluko was particularly effective, and as well as two lame shots from distance, only the presence of Scot Buist on the line stopped him hooking the ball in after 15 minutes.

If Alloa were penned back, though, they were still determined to take the fight to the visitors. There was, however, no overt niggle between the two sides until late in the first half when Aberdeen's Mark Kerr took a sly swipe at Andy Scott, sparking a melee that the referee struggled to contain.

That was the spark that changed the game. Scott had until then been busy but was in danger of being bypassed by a game played in the other half. After that, however, the striker took the game by the scruff of the neck for a crucial 15-minute period before the interval. Rescued by Maitland from junior football with Cumbernauld United exactly a year ago, he played with a desperate determination that, in conjunction with some deft touches from Ferguson, gradually began to create openings.

His hard graft finally paid off five minutes before half-time when Alloa won a free-kick down the left and he delivered a stinging front-post ball right into the path of Dougie Hill, who met it on the volley, smacking it into the top of the net. It was a few seconds before the players realised that referee Nicholls had disallowed the goal, gesturing for a shirt-tug by Miller on Hill and awarding Alloa a penalty. It was a decision met with universal consternation by the home side, but Scott cooly curled the ball to Langfield's left to deservedly put Alloa back on level terms.

One can only imagine the bollocking dispensed by Calderwood at half-time, and Aberdeen initially came out a changed side. First Richard Foster went close from long-range and then Aberdeen began to apply real pressure. Just as Alloa thought they had weathered the storm, however, Langfield cleared the ball downfield, Darren Mackie flicked the ball onwards and Aluko breezed in between Chris Townsley and Hill before collecting the ball as it looped over the Alloa defenders and then lifting it clear of Jellema with a sublime touch.

The rest of the half was all one-way traffic in the direction of Aberdeen's goal. Ferguson was inches over the cross bar after a goalmouth scramble, while Iain Campbell, Grant, Dougie Wilson, substitute Andy Ferguson and Scott all had decent chances before, with minutes left, Scott had the goal at his mercy but sent his header inches wide. At the final whistle the Tannoy system blared out Hot Stuff. The Great Escape would have been far more appropriate.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Sone Aluko. The classy Aberdeen striker was at the heart of everything the visitors did, tracking back magnificently and offering an outlet on the counterattack. Took his second-half goal brilliantly.

QUICK FACT

Steven Pressley may be a free agent after leaving Denmark, but if he's got an offer on the table from Inverness, why was he in the stands at Recreation Park watching Aberdeen yesterday?

TALKING POINT

What was referee Steve Nicholls doing when he penalised Scott Severin for a shirt tug on Andy Scott but then disallowed the resulting goal? He was lucky that Scott spared his blushes from the penalty spot.