"We're going down with the Dundee!" The protest that wasn't a protest and other takeaways from St Johnstone v Aberdeen

Some additional observations from Aberdeen’s 1-0 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park in the cinch Premiership on Saturday
Aberdeen skipper Scott Brown salutes the visiting fans - was he man of the match? Maybe (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)Aberdeen skipper Scott Brown salutes the visiting fans - was he man of the match? Maybe (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)
Aberdeen skipper Scott Brown salutes the visiting fans - was he man of the match? Maybe (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Giggle of the match: The Fair City Unity are a group of Saints fans who do their best to bring atmosphere to the McDiarmid Park. When they stayed behind at the final whistle it was natural to presume they were protesting at the current situation. After all, St Johnstone had just dropped to the bottom of the league on account of the defeat to Aberdeen coupled with Ross County winning v Dundee. But there’s nothing can’t be solved by fetching a couple of major trophies to plant down in front of some unhappy fans, which is what happened on Saturday. A club official was seen scurrying across the park carrying the League and Scottish Cups, St Johnstone’s booty from an extraordinary year. It later turned out that this was a pre-arranged photo shoot with the fans and their chants, including the self-mocking “we’re going down with the Dundee”, were not designed to be pops at chairman Steve Brown. Not yet, at least.

Referee watch: Let’s put Greg Aitken – and his officials, who offered him little help to be fair - down for a big fat zero out of ten. You always hope the refereeing team are able to get the key decisions right and here they most certainly didn’t. Good goal though it was, Teddy Jenks plainly handled the ball as it dropped to the ground and before he slammed it into the corner past Zander Clark. The St Johnstone ‘keeper is a big man but he was up off the ground and in Aitken’s face within seconds, as were many of his similarly outraged teammates. As Aberdeen manager Stephen Glass later remarked, this was as good an indication as any that their complaints were valid. Sadly for Saints, until Scotland gets VAR, there is no way of overturning a decision.

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Shot of the match: Jenks’ effort was well hit on the half-volley and it was unfortunate that only his second goal for Aberdeen has been tainted by the preceding handball that helped set him up for the strike. But it wasn’t the most spectacular shot of the match, not by a long way. Christian Ramirez was near the far touchline when he attempted to take advantage of Zander Clark being off his line. The Aberdeen striker attempted to hook the ball into the net over the stranded Clark but he was just off with his calculations. The ball hit the side-netting but many of those sitting in the main stand thought it had sneaked in, which would have made it goal of the season, no question.

Man of the match: Teddy Jenks was the match winner but it’s hard to give the man of the match award to someone who was only on the pitch for 25 minutes, particularly when the chief reason for doing so – his goal – should have been disallowed. Craig Bryson dug in for the hosts, Chris Kane did a lot of running as usual and was terribly unlucky with a header that came back off the post just after the hour mark. His league goals total for the season stands at a paltry two, both coming in one game v Dundee. Scott Brown was effective for the visitors doing what Scott Brown does and David Bates looks to be finding his feet as an Aberdeen centre-half. But no-one stole the show. It was that kind of game.

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