Aberdeen 2 - 2 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, December 26th, 2015, 3:00 PM at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen
Attendance: 15,142
Referee: Willie Collum
Aberdeen Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Niall McGinn (73)
Adam Rooney (pen.90)
Liam Polworth (41)
Greg Tansey (pen.) (47)

Team Managers
Derek McInnes John Hughes

Starting Eleven
Danny Ward
Shaleum Logan
Ash Taylor
Paul Quinn
Andrew Considine
Niall McGinn
Ryan Jack
Graeme Shinnie
Jonny Hayes
Kenny McLean
Adam Rooney
Owain Fon Williams
Gary Warren
David Raven
Daniel Devine
Carl Tremarco
Liam Polworth
Greg Tansey
Ross Draper
James Vincent
Nat Wedderburn
Miles Storey

Bench
Scott Brown
Mark Reynolds
Cammy Smith
Barry Robson
Peter Pawlett
David Goodwillie
Craig Storie
Ryan Esson
Danny Williams
Jordan Roberts
Dani Lopez
Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo
Tobi Sho-Silva

Substitutions
David Goodwillie -> Paul Quinn (48) Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo for Liam Polworth (77)
Danny Williams for Miles Storey (88)

Bookings
None. Liam Polworth (76)
Ross Draper (82)
Owain Fon Williams (95)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Owain Fon Williams (GK) 23 apps -
Daniel Devine 61 apps2 goals
David Raven 132 apps3 goals
Gary Warren 128 apps12 goals
Carl Tremarco 53 apps -
Nat Wedderburn 12 apps -
Greg Tansey 125 apps20 goals
Ross Draper 136 apps7 goals
James Vincent 65 apps5 goals
Liam Polworth 52 apps3 goals
Miles Storey 14 apps7 goals
Danny Williams (sub) 87 apps4 goals
Andrea Mbuyi-Mutombo (sub) 15 apps -

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Liam Polworth (21 years 80 days)
Oldest Player:Greg Tansey (2017 years 150 days)
Average Player Age:26 years 209 days
Domestic Players:3 (27.27 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Liam Polworth (21 years 80 days)
Oldest Player:Greg Tansey (2017 years 150 days)
Average Player Age:27 years 75 days
Domestic Players:9 (52.94 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Another Late Goal:

Inverness surrendered a two goal lead against in form Aberdeen to draw 2-2, thanks to a last minute penalty scored by Adam Rooney, his 14th of the season. Despite six minutes of time added on, we managed to not concede again and it ended all square. Liam Polworth had stroked home in the first half after great work by Ross Draper. Just after the restart, Greg Tansey put the keeper the wrong way from the spot. As Inverness sat deeper, Aberdeen were certainties to capitalise and Niall McGinn scored his 50th goal for the Dons. Ohhh Gary Warren has a new meaning as the big defender was mugged on the edge of the box. Up stepped Willie Collum just when it looked as though we had weathered the onslaught to provide Rooney with the opportunity to score in injury time, and score he did.

This was a result we would have bitten your hand off prior to kick off, but once more the late goal scuppers us. Yes it was like a defeat, but credit to the team for getting us into that positon in the first instance.

Ross Draper and David Raven returned to the starting X1 much to the relief of the travelling support. Josh Meekings was missing presumably carrying a knock. Aberdeen began with David Goodwillie on the bench along with the returning Mark Reynolds.

Miles Storey was first to show on a cold East coast afternoon. He probably should have done better with the two opportunities presented to him as he raced clear of the defence. His first one was blocked by Danny Ward as he bore down on goal, the second was tipped round the post when a square ball to Draper would surely have paid dividends.

Devine breathed a sigh of relief as he scurried back when Aberdeen broke forward. He met the cross as he raced into his own box and his header arrowed just past Fon Williams' post.

Inverness restricted the Dons pretty well in the first half and we took the lead through Liam Polworth four minutes before the break. Draper picked up on the halfway and drove forward. He played on to David Raven who returned the ball to Draper as he burst into the box. The big man did well to shrug off Paul Quinn before rolling the ball across the box where Polworth met it some 12 yards out to guide the ball into the net.

Half Time 0-1

The second half was only one minute in when Draper was adjudged to have been impeded in the box and the controversial Willie Collum pointed to the spot. A tad harsh maybe, but if you make contact in the box then you run the risk of falling foul and that is what happened here as Quinn made the challenge. Greg Tansey wasn't worried and he stroked the ball neatly into the bottom corner, Ward looking for something on the other side of the net.

Quinn had been getting the brush off from Draper and he was replaced by David Goodwillie as Derek MacInnes went for broke.

Niall McGinn was beginning to see more of the ball in search of his 50th Dons goal and he shot narrowly over from just outside the box as Aberdeen pushed forward with more urgency, Inverness content to let them have a go as we sat deeper.

Goodwillie had a header saved as the Dons racked up the corners, but Inverness were still holding firm. Owain Fon Williams took a sore one as he smashed his head of a post, as he scrambled to keep the ball out. He required lengthy treatment after this but we are pleased to say the post was able to continue after the collision.

Aberdeen were throwing everything at Inverness as they looked for a way back into the game and just when it looked as though they were running out of ideas, we helped them out somewhat. Gary Warren mopped up an attack deep in his own box, but instead of clearing the danger, he elected to dribble his way out of trouble. Wrong thing to do Gary as McGinn mugged him and sped towards goal, scoring from an acute angle.

Game on and Inverness had about twenty minutes to keep the ball out.

McGinn missed again as he shot wide and Kenny McLean rattled the underside of the bar with a tremendous shot from distance as Inverness were finding it difficult to make any headway, and this would be our undoing with a bit of help from referee Collum.

The ninety minutes were all but up when Danny Devine was hit by a shot inside the box. It appeared to strike his chest but Collum was confident enough to award the spot kick. Adam Rooney cracked the ball home and there were six more minutes to endure before we finally got out of our own half.

Full Time 2-2

It was a backs to the wall performance in the second half, partly because Aberdeen went for it, and partly because we gave them control of the midfield. However, had Miles Storey taken one of his two excellent first half chances then the game could have been over before Warren let Aberdeen back into the game. Still a point at the title challengers den is not too shabby. Despite this blip from Gary, he had an excellent game otherwise and many fans had his card marked as MotM. This result actually lifts us one place in the table to eighth, but it's still very congested in there. Aberdeen stay one point behind Celtic after they drew with Hearts at Tynecastle.

Match report written by tm4tj



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Celtic 18 13 3 2 45 14 31 42
2. Aberdeen 20 13 3 4 34 20 14 42
3. Hearts 18 9 5 4 29 18 11 32
4. St. Johnstone 19 9 4 6 35 29 6 31
5. Ross County 20 8 3 9 33 29 4 27
6. Motherwell 18 6 3 9 18 25 -7 21
7. Partick Thistle 18 6 5 7 19 23 -4 23
8. Dundee 20 5 8 7 29 35 -6 23
9. Inverness CT 19 5 7 7 23 27 -4 22
10. Hamilton Academical 19 6 4 9 22 30 -8 22
11. Kilmarnock 20 5 5 10 20 36 -16 20
12. Dundee Utd 19 2 4 13 15 36 -21 10

* - Table split into two divisions of six.