Aberdeen show their champion trait as Celtic showdown looms - even Rangers turncoat might have got applause
The Dons win again to keep pace at the top on emotional day at Dens Park
The toughest challenge so far, they said. The game that would test the mettle of this remorseless red victory machine known by the name of Aberdeen Football Club.
Dundee away. Three points and up the road. The mark of champions. Whether or not that indeed turns out to be the case, the visiting fans treated this victory as if it was a very significant statement. And why not? The 2-1 win deposited the team at the top of the league, for a couple of hours at least. They invoked Celtic from the packed away end and chorused: “We’re going to win the league!"
Sometimes teams just click. They forget how to lose – or even draw. Aberdeen might have dropped points here, probably deserved to. But they held on to all three courtesy of first-half goals from Kevin Nisbet and Topi Keskinen. Dundee reduced the deficit at what seemed like a good time – just before half-time.
Skipper Simon Murray slotted home from the penalty spot after he had been upended while in the process of shooting by Gavin Molloy, who was booked. It was boyhood Dundee fan Murray's first goal at Dens Park but it didn't count for anything else in the end.
While Dundee will rarely have posted such high possession statistics versus an Aberdeen team, even in the visitors’ most hopeless days, they could not conjure the one goal they needed to force a draw and at least give this Pittodrie bandwagon a slight shoogle.
The Dons march on under Jimmy Thelin. Twelves victories and counting, something not seen at the start of a managerial Scottish reign since Martin O’Neill entered the scene at the beginning of this century. Aberdeen are winning even when they don’t deserve to, something that is very definitely the mark of champions.
Dundee manager Tony Docherty relayed what Thelin told him at full time. “It’s not often I come in after the game and say the better team lost,” he said. “To be fair to Jimmy, he’s an honest guy, and he said that when we shook hands.”
Suck it up, Doc, the Aberdeen supporters will gleefully reply. The away fans stayed behind long after the end to hail Thelin and his players, even giving Duk, the lost boy from Lisbon, a huge ovation as he was pushed forward by his teammates in a scene lit by low evening sun.
For Aberdeen, these are the days of the endless summer, as Van Morrison once sang. In the current mood, Rangers turncoat Connor Barron might have been given an ovation.
Forgiving and forgetting is easy when life is good. So Duk, an unused substitute, felt the love on his first return to the first-team squad since going AWOL in pre-season.
Dens Park was once a place where Aberdeen simply turned up expecting to win. Gordon Strachan, who was on the pitch at half time to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association, was a reminder of those heady times.
Aberdeen duly delivered another blast of nostalgia with the kind of win they once routinely posted here. It might not have been deserved. It may not even have been very pretty. The job, however, was done. Two shots on target, two goals. Nisbet clinically finished the first from 15 yards following Keskinen’s cutback. The Finn then turned goalscorer himself after a quick break from Aberdeen after Mo Sylla had given up possession in the middle of the visitors’ half. Just 32 minutes had been played.
This Dens Park visit might have been Aberdeen’s toughest test to date under Thelin but there was generosity on the part of the home team in the way their defence aided both of these goals due to slackness.
Dundee were provided with some extra stimulus on an emotional afternoon at Dens Park. The sad news of former player Fabian Caballero’s sad death at the death of just 46 gave many people pause, not just Dundee fans. Both sets of supporters joined in a rousing minute’s applause before kick-off.
Another round of applause arrived in the seventh minute, which was the number worn by the talented striker.
The home team were later unsettled by concerning news that Sylla, their commanding midfielder, had “taken a turn”, in the words of Docherty, at half time. The players were all ushered outside the dressing room as medics arrived. Sylla, who had taken a head knock during the opening 45 minutes, was rushed off to hospital. Mercifully, Docherty was later able to relay the news that the player was “responsive”.
There was a lot to take in here on an emotional afternoon at Dens Park although Thelin never looked flustered. The Swede was a constant presence on the edge of the technical area. A dark silhouette unobtrusively watching the action, hands in pockets for the most part. He is making Scottish football look ridiculously easy.
“We don’t talk about it inside the locker room and the club," he said, when pressed on the winning run. "We talk about game-by-game and training (session) by training (session). That is our focus and why we have taken three points. It was good to celebrate with the away fans given the way we fought to win the game."
Thelin even mentioned something about it not being May, and therefore it wasn't the time to get too excited. Not something an Aberdeen manager has felt the need to point out in recent times.
The Aberdeen bus was spotted outside a hotel near the V & A museum before the match. What was the biggest attraction in the city? Resurgent Aberdeen or an exhibition plotting the sartorial, aesthetic and social significance of kimono from the 1660s to the present day. Over 4,000 visiting fans chose Dens with undoubtedly a few neutrals also drawn to the stadium to see what all the fuss was about.
Well, the hype seems worth it. Crisis club Hearts are next to arrive at Pittodrie by way of Azerbaijan before a title showdown against Celtic at Celtic Park. And yes, you read that right.
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