Reaction: Aberdeen score injury-time winner to defeat St Mirren as Killie Motherwell cancelled

Aberdeen 2 – 1 St Mirren
02/10/20
SPL

The Dons made hard work of a game they were strong favourites to win, defeating a dogged St Mirren side at Pittodrie in the dying minutes.

Aberdeen went behind to an Ethan Erhahon wonder strike in the middle of the second-half. Marley Watkins responded for the Dons, scoring his second goal in as many games, before Lewis Ferguson got the winner a minute into injury time.

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Dons get out of jail against down-and-out St Mirren

It was a tough night for Aberdeen in a game they were strongly expected to take maximum points from.

St Mirren turned up a club in turmoil, sitting bottom of the league, being able to name only four subs which included no defenders or midfielders, and with Jim Goodwin finding out that star player Kyle Magennis had been sold to Hibernian against the manager’s wishes.

The Dons needed to win to keep up with Hibs, Jack Ross’ side continuing their relentless pace by beating Hamilton 3-2 at Easter Road.

The victory for the Dons means they remain in fourth place, two points behind Hibs with two games in hand and seven points clear of Kilmarnock whose game against Motherwell was called off after the entire Killie first team squad was made to isolate due to six players returning positive covid tests during the week.

Reaction: “We rolled the sleeves up and were relentless”

Derek McInnes breezed over any questions of why Aberdeen seemed to falter in the first-half and praised the attitude and never-say-die mentality of his players.

McInnes told the BBC after the game: “There’s nothing better than a last minute winner.

“The players deserve so much credit. We dug deep and were relentless in the last 15-20 minutes. It’s a brilliant three points and we can go into the break feeling good about ourselves.”

Jim Goodwin must be feeling like the world is against him at the moment having already had to deal with the debacle of all three first team keepers isolating at the same time a couple weeks ago against Hibs, losing his star player behind his back, and only being able to name four subs tonight.

Goodwin said after the game: “We certainly haven’t carried a lot of luck in the last six games. It’s the worst run in my managerial career (six defeats on the bounce) and it has to change.

“The overall performance tonight merited a point.”

Match recap – hard lines for St Mirren

It was always going to be hard for St Mirren coming to Pittodrie, but the Buddies were a club in chaos arriving to the North Sea coast.

Jim Goodwin was forced to select only four substitutes, with no defenders or midfielders on the bench, and was coming into the game against the Dons knowing star midfielder Kyle Magennis had been sold to Hibs, against the coach’s wishes.

The last time the Buddies won at Pittodrie was May 2011 and they would have felt tonight was a missed opportunity to make new history for the Paisley club.

Aberdeen started brightly and carved open a couple of chances, the best being long range efforts from Ferguson and Hayes.

But St Mirren weathered the storm and their excellent organisation dragged them back into the match.

The breakthrough came through a stunning strike by St Mirren midfielder Ethan Erhahon in the middle of the second-half.

Erhahon’s 25-yard sighter had Joe Lewis rooted to the spot.

Aberdeen equalised on seventy minutes through Marley Watkins, who scored his second goal for the club in as many games with a neat finish from the edge of the area.

Aberdeen got the winner a minute before the end through Lewis Ferguson.

Ferguson drove at the St Mirren defence and finished well after being set on his way by Jonny Hayes.

Kilmarnock v Motherwell postponed after covid fallout

Kilmarnock versus Motherwell, which was meant to be played this evening, was cancelled this afternoon after the entire Kilmarnock squad was advised to self-isolate.

Six players in the Killie first team squad returned positive coronavirus tests this week meaning the SPFL, advised by the Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland, called for the game to be postponed.

Whether the fixture will be replayed or Kilmarnock give up the points is still to be decided.

The SPFL said: “Kilmarnock have been advised that their whole first team playing squad require to immediately self-isolate.

“An investigation will now be carried out by the SPFL to ascertain the circumstances leading to this postponement. No new date for the fixture has been set pending the outcome of the investigation.”

Up next: Aberdeen’s next foray in the SPL is after the international break, away to Dundee United at Tannadice on Saturday 17^th October, 3pm KO.

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