Aberdeen striker scores! ......Unfortunately it's 150 miles away for Hamilton Accies as Pittodrie side's goal famine goes on

First things first. It’s very difficult to form any judgments following a football match that takes place in such unforgiving weather conditions. This is a relevant observation in relation to Derek McInnes’ current predicament.
On-loan striker Florian Kamberi made his debut for Aberdeen in the wind-affected 0-0 home draw with St Mirren (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)On-loan striker Florian Kamberi made his debut for Aberdeen in the wind-affected 0-0 home draw with St Mirren (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)
On-loan striker Florian Kamberi made his debut for Aberdeen in the wind-affected 0-0 home draw with St Mirren (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

It’s hard to play any sort of football, attractive or otherwise, with the wind swirling as it was here. At one point, Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis had to retrieve the ball three times as it blew away from him towards the half-way line when he attempted to take a free kick just outside his own box.There was more divot-construction going on than at Murrayfield. Corner-kicks, free-kicks, goal-kicks, the ball just would not stick.

Former Hibs striker Florian Kamberi came in for Aberdeen but he must have wished there had been a further hold up with his work permit given the horrendous conditions. This was not a game in which to make your debut. Willie Miller, covering the match for radio, wanted it called off. He had a point. “It was an horrendous game of football in the grand scheme of things,” summed up St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin afterwards.

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Aberdeen’s recent record in front of goal – they have now failed to score for 463 minutes, more than five games - might mean their players do not warrant much sympathy but then it’s hard to score when the ball does not do what you want it to do. The object of the exercise here was avoiding doing anything silly and conceding a goal.

The visitors almost did exactly that in the final moments when a mix-up involving skipper Joe Shaughnessy, who missed a cross, created an opening for Aberdeen, but they could not capitalise. That was not wholly surprising. Sometimes it seems Aberdeen will need the ball placed a couple of inches from an unattended goal for them to have a chance of breaking their scoring famine.

These are dire times for McInnes and his side. There was some pre-match support in the form of a banner tied to the car park railings outside Pittodrie: “In Derek we trust”. The fact it was still there afterwards offers some comfort for McInnes.

It won’t have escaped the under-fire manager’s notice that an Aberdeen striker did score yesterday – unfortunately it was 150 miles away for Hamilton Accies. Bruce Anderson was allowed to go out on loan as Aberdeen completely re-jigged their forward options towards the end of last month’s transfer window.

Kamberi played the full 90 minutes and will only improve with game-time, with the same going for on-loan striker colleague Fraser Hornby. All eyes were on the former. A couple of fresh air shots identified a player who is rusty in the extreme.

St Mirren coped slightly better with the challenging conditions. The visitors probably created the best chance to score early on when Ilkay Dumus crossed from the left for Ryan Flynn, but his near-post poke was blocked by Lewis. At least St Mirren recently scored five goals away from home. They are still in credit, Aberdeen – and McInnes specifically – are not.

The last goal scored by Aberdeen remains Andrew Considine’s strike to secure a 2-0 win over Motherwell at Pittodrie in January. Two of their next three games are against Celtic. McInnes needs to find the right formula – and fast.

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