Aberdeen 1 - 0 Inverness CT

League Match
Saturday, April 30th, 2011, 3:00 PM at Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen
Attendance: 6,280
Referee: George Salmond
Aberdeen Inverness CT

Goalscorers
Peter Pawlett (75) None.

Team Managers
Craig Brown Terry Butcher

Starting Eleven
Jamie Langfield
Zander Diamond
Nikola Vujadinovic
Steven Smith
Derek Young
Ryan Jack
Robert Milsom
Sone Aluko
Michael Paton
Chris Maguire
Nick Blackman
Ryan Esson
Ross Tokely
Grant Munro
Kenny Gillet
Lee Cox
Nick Ross
Stuart Duff
Aaron Doran
Adam Rooney
Shane Sutherland
Alex MacDonald

Bench
Mark Howard
Myles Anderson
Nicky Low
Clark Robertson
Peter Pawlett
Jordan Brown
Josh Magennis
Jonny Tuffey
Stuart Golabek
Chris Innes
Russell Duncan
Gavin Morrison
Eric Odhiambo

Substitutions
Josh Magennis -> Nick Blackman (66)
Peter Pawlett -> Michael Paton (66)
Clark Robertson -> Sone Aluko (88)
Eric Odhiambo for Alex MacDonald (63)
Russell Duncan for Shane Sutherland (76)

Bookings
Sone Aluko (64) Stuart Duff (16)
Kenny Gillet (28)

Red Cards
None. None.
Appearances & Goals To Date
Ryan Esson (GK) 107 apps -
Kenny Gillet 10 apps -
Ross Tokely 553 apps35 goals
Grant Munro 364 apps16 goals
Stuart Duff 36 apps1 goal
Lee Cox 72 apps4 goals
Aaron Doran 12 apps3 goals
Nick Ross 47 apps1 goal
Shane Sutherland 32 apps1 goal
Adam Rooney 121 apps52 goals
Alex MacDonald 10 apps1 goal
Russell Duncan (sub) 350 apps11 goals
Eric Odhiambo (sub) 69 apps11 goals

Starting Lineup
Youngest Player:Aaron Doran (19 years 357 days)
Oldest Player:Grant Munro (2012 years 274 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 224 days
Domestic Players:10 (90.91 % of starting eleven)

Matchday Squad
Youngest Player:Aaron Doran (19 years 357 days)
Oldest Player:Chris Innes (2012 years 274 days)
Average Player Age:25 years 163 days
Domestic Players:16 (94.12 % of matchday squad)

First Team Debuts

Milestones

Aberdeen win at our expense:

A Peter Pawlett goal 15 minutes from time settled this end of season affair in Aberdeen's favour.  This ensured the sides finish the season with two wins apiece.  This was youngster Pawlett's first goal for the Don's and it was enough to see off a lethargic Inverness. 

Russell Duncan was on the bench and the diminutive Macdonald replaced the suspended Foran, who was missed for his energy and ball retention skills.

 Aberdeen had the better of the early chances but Shane Sutherland forced a fingertip save from Langfield in the second half, however Pawlett had the final say when he scored a neat goal to snatch all three points away from Inverness.

Davie will tell us how it all unfolded when he returns from the Costa del Pittodrie.

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All the ingredients were there for an open attractive game, the outcome mattering little to either side so there was no reason for the SPL speciality of defeat avoidance. As little as ten minutes of playing time was enough to disabuse any such thoughts; this was a guttering fag-end of a game that both sides appeared too lethargic to play.

The game started as it went on, with Aberdeen having the bulk of the possession but doing little constructive with it; there were attempts by Aluko and Milsom that eventually aroused Stuart Duff enough after 15 minutes to hoof said Aluko and provoke a yellow card. Shane Sutherland was looking fine and direct again, but struggled as a lack of support from a lightweight midfield denied him both a source of ball and anywhere to pass the thing to when he got it. His drive that forced Langfield into a good save was provoked by his directness; it almost paid dividends.  Gillet was showing well, apart from one bomb scare moment, and was booked in 28 minutes, just when he thought that the ref had forgotten. Aberdeen, meanwhile, racked up the chances, Diamond, Blackman, Paton and Maguire all passing up quality opportunities. Diamonds especially was of staggering ineptitude.

Half Time: Aberdeen 0 ICT 0.

The second half began with a realisation that this game would be won by the team that woke up first. It recommenced as the same dour struggle that characterised the first 45, but Caley came into things a bit more. Opportunities came for Rooney, but the telling intervention was Tokely's clearance off the line from a captain Esson parry. It stayed the same until 75 minutes, when PAWLETT, on as a substitute for Paton, fired home from close range. There was never really any way back from that and the game petered out with, if anything, Aberdeen looking likelier to profit further.

Full Time: Aberdeen 1 ICT 0

As Hislopsoffsideagain said, that's 90 minutes of his life he's not getting back. In truth ICT looked as if injury, suspension and absence had finally taken an unsurmountable toll of a team that struggled manfully, but never looked likely to achieve. Even when Russell Duncan made a quite poignant cameo, the game was gone as surely as his massive contribution in these parts. That's not to forget everything he's done this season and we should be the same about the team as a whole. Let's see what happens against Celtic - it's got to be better than this. 

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No a great days entertainment then davie?  We'll try and get you to something a bit more exciting before the season's out.  I hear the world championships for watching paint dry is coming up shortly.

Match report written by davie



Pld W D L F A +/- Pts
1. Rangers 35 27 3 5 77 28 49 84
2. Celtic 33 25 5 3 70 18 52 80
3. Hearts 35 18 9 8 52 36 16 63
4. Dundee Utd 34 15 10 9 48 43 5 55
5. Kilmarnock 35 13 9 13 51 47 4 48
6. Motherwell 35 13 6 16 39 51 -12 45
7. Inverness CT 34 10 11 13 44 41 3 41
8. Hibernian 35 10 7 18 38 55 -17 37
9. St. Johnstone 35 9 10 16 20 43 -23 37
10. Aberdeen 35 10 5 20 36 55 -19 35
11. St. Mirren 34 7 8 19 32 55 -23 29
12. Hamilton Academical 34 3 11 20 21 56 -35 20