Aberdeen 1-0 Dunfermline

A Scott Severin goal mid-way through the second half separates the teams to put the Pars at the bottom of the table.

It was a case of needs must at Aberdeen today as the Pars set out in strictly defensive format in the hope of snatching a point at Pittodrie. The trouble is one moment of weakness and a goal is lost and, at the moment, the Pars have no apparent capability of getting an equaliser. Scott Severin’s scrambled headed goal was enough to win all three points for the home side.

There was no sign of Jim Hamilton or Stevie Crawford as the Pars warmed up and the sooner it is resolved whether or not these players are signed the better. The Pars injury crisis has deprived the team of any creativity or forward play, which was evidenced by the every defensive line up. Dorus De Vries was given his first SPL start in goal with Greg Ross at right back, Wilson and Bamba in centre defence and Labonte on the left. The five man midfield had Mason, McCunnie, Young, Owen Morrison and McGuire. Centre half, Andy Tod, was the sole “attacker”.

The Pars were playing towards the beach end and Owen Morrison had a quick shot inside the first minute easily saved by Langfield. The Dons had their new Dutch striker, Dyron Daal, in attack and he had a free header in 7 minutes when he weakly headed wide. Mackie tumbled in the Pars box in 13 minutes with howls from the Red Army for a penalty with the referee giving a bye kick. Anderson hit a half volley well over in 15 minutes and even at that stage the Pars were looking quite comfortable in defence. The trouble was their sole attacking ploy was to lump the ball forward to Tod who rarely won the ball and when he did there was no-one supporting to pick up the knock down.

The Dons had to make an early change with Touzani going off with Considine coming on in 19 minutes.

Probably the best chance the Pars created was when Owen Morrison got on the ball and found Tod running into the Aberdeen area on the left but Tod could only pull a weak effort across the face of the goal. There was not a Pars midfield player in sight to get on the end of it.

Bamba had been playing well in the centre of defence but nearly caused disaster when he allowed Aberdeen through only for Scott Wilson to make a heroic tackle to stop the danger. That looked to be where the centre back injured himself as he limped through the next 15 minutes until half time.

The Pars did win three corners in quick succession in 38 minutes and despite having a number of tall players failed to get on the end of any of them. Aaron Labonte was playing well and showed a lot of determination in the middle of the park to win a ball with three Aberdeen players around him with the young Englishman getting fouled. Andy Tod headed the resulting free kick wide. Half time 0-0.

No changes at half time with Scott Wilson coming back for more.

There was then one of those bizarre moments when an Aberdeen attack broke down and as the ball went to De Vries he played the ball out with his feet then picked it up when a Dons player closed in with the referee blowing for an indirect free kick claiming the ball to the keeper was a passback. It was not. The ball sliced off one of the defenders and went back to the keeper but know way was it deliberate. There was then an almighty stramash as virtually all the players except Langfield had a spot of pushing and shoving in the Pars penalty area. The resulting free kick was cleared for a corner.