Appearances & Goals To Date
Starting Lineup
| Youngest Player: | Roman Golobart (19 years 156 days) |
| Oldest Player: | Andrew Shinnie (2013 years 21 days) |
| Average Player Age: | 24 years 97 days |
| Domestic Players: | 11 (100.00 % of starting eleven) |
Matchday Squad
| Youngest Player: | Andrew Greig (18 years 140 days) |
| Oldest Player: | Graeme Shinnie (2013 years 21 days) |
| Average Player Age: | 22 years 259 days |
| Domestic Players: | 17 (94.44 % of matchday squad) |
First Team Debuts
Milestones
Roman in the gloamin as Spanish inquisition required:
Debut boy, Spaniard Roman Golobart gifted Aberdeen the second goal when a bit of Flamenco dancing ended when he tripped over the ball and this put the game just beyond the Highlanders despite Inverness picking up the pace in the second half. It was a sort of paso doble; he would have been better passing the ball.
Robert Milsom opened the scoring in the 11th minute and Scott Vernon capitalised on Golobart's error after 26 minutes to seal Aberdeen's first win of the season and confine Inverness to the foot of the table for another week at least.
Aberdeen's Youl Mawene returned the gift to Inverness in the second period as Foran stroked the ball home with ten minutes left and he should have equalised a few minutes later but the Inverness captain missed a sitter.
For Inverness it was too little too late after an insipid first half and despite four minutes of time added on, Aberdeen held on to thwart ICT's best efforts.
Before this game the Dons had failed to score in over 360 minutes of SPL football this season. Inverness on the other hand have been generous to the opposition by conceding goals like nobody's business, something was about to change.
Davie will give us a full match report when they return from the game and compare notes................Well well, Davie's notes were more legible and here is his report........
Sinking the Bismarck
Aberdeen was at its summery brightest on Saturday, and the stroll from train station to Pittodrie was infinitely more pleasant than the usual rain sodden January trudge in the bitter cold. At the Gallowgate, there resides the ubiquitous Brewdog pub, run by the brewery of the same name. I’m a fan, and savoured the bottle of “tactical nuclear penguin” on offer. I looked at their greatest achievement – a beer called “sink the Bismarck” – which is around 41%. It stopped at looking. So a pleasant morning that left me feeling charitable to the world; I wish the same had been said of Aberdeen.
Inverness turned up for this one with the recent addition of Roman Golobart on display before the ink was dry on the loan agreement in yet another version of a back four that was attempting to stem the leaks that afflicted previous games.
Not a bit of it, as Aberdeen attacked from the outset with a barrage of chances that were being increasingly nervously batted away by a defence with “porous” written all over them. That they are young and needing direction is clear and Aberdeen’s first goal in 12 minutes was a case in point. Magennis waltzed down his wing away from Golobart to deliver a deadly ball across the six yard line that Milsom buried with aplomb. Hogg had lost his man in the box and the Don's had opened their account for the season. As easy a goal as you will see; the cross should never have been allowed though and the aforementioned Magennis halted by any means.
Not the start Butcher had wanted but worse was to follow.
The nous just ain’t there yet. Aberdeen didn’t let up, and in 27 minutes Golobart got himself in a dreadful fankle that came from an innocent looking ball being being caught under his feet. Immediately challenged, he resisted the impulse to get agricultural with either ball or Vernon and instead allowed him to break through on Esson. 2-0, and clearly trouble ahead. Trouble indeed, as on 37 minutes Foran found himself tugged back by an Aberdeen defender on the edge of the D, and protesting that he got his pass away to Hayes, who finished past Gonzalez. Crawford Allan’s whistle clearly went after the ball was dispatched by Hayes but a free kick was the meagre award and no amount of apoplexy from Foran was going to change it, or the inevitability of the damp squib free kick after that. 2-0 at half time and, in truth, it could have been worse.
Half Time 2-0
The second half was better though, and brighter from a northern perspective. First Foran found himself one on one with Gonzalez, and mesmerised by the latter’s ponytail, fluffed the chance. Hayes also found himself in space, but couldn’t screw the ball at the required angle and the chance was gone. At this stage, with the largely anonymous midfield failing to find an increasingly desperate attack and with a defence wary of being pressured, it was difficult to see anything that would offer ICT a way back into the game, even after shuffling the pack with Doran and Sutherland. Morrison tried his luck with a blockbuster from 30 yards that Gonzalez did well to keep out, it really was a rasping shot from the youngster.
It was obvious, really, that the chance would come from another defensive howler, Mawene being the victim this time of a woefully short pass back that Foran pounced on. Hard not to be sympathetic really, he must have been comparing notes with Golobart after the game. 2-1 and hope glimmered. It should have reignited fully shortly afterwards when Foran again sprung an increasingly fragile Dons back line but was denied by a great stop from the ponytail. Even at the death, Tade could have snatched it but headed straight at Gonzalez. That, as they say, was that.
Full Time 2-1
Terry claims not to be worried (yet) but the defensive fragility that we are now showing on a semi-regular basis must concern him. We await the “glue” that will turn a collection of individuals into a fully functioning team, but it’s taking a while to set. Maybe a night out in Ayr is what’s required. We’re not sunk yet, but does Harry sell Brewdog?
Match report written by tm4tj/Davie
