Aberdeen 0 St Mirren 0: No quarter given as drama centres on midfield bout

Monday 3 September 2012

St Mirren joined the list of teams who overcame all that Aberdeen could throw at them at Pittodrie before leaving the home side with a feeling of defeat.

Aberdeen 0 St Mirren 0

Custom byline text:

Frank Gilfeather

Yet, while their efforts brought no goals, there was plenty of entertainment on show, not to mention an absorbing midfield battle between Isaac Osbourne and Jim Goodwin, which provided a masterclass in ball-winning and enforcement, and was followed by a handshake. Think the battles between Ali and Frazier, or Leonard versus Hagler.

At the end of it all, St Mirren would have felt just as Hearts did six days earlier when they, too, were on the receiving end of a Pittodrie pummelling, only to leave with a point. In the circumstances it must have felt more like a win.The engrossing nature of the game owed much to Brian Colvin, a referee prepared to allow action to develop in the no man's land of midfield, despite winces from the stands over some of the challenges, particularly those involving Osbourne and Goodwin."I know I gave the referee dog's abuse," the St Mirren captain admitted afterwards. "But I thought he had a decent game and was fair to both teams. I was at the meeting at the start of the season with the captains and managers with John Fleming and Craig Thomson [senior refereeing figures] and it came across that we should have less of the schoolteacher attitude from them and in fairness to them, I think they've taken that on board. You're able to talk to them and have a little bit of banter with them."Sometimes a scoring chance can get a big roar, but sometimes a big, meaty challenge can have the same effect. The boy Osbourne, he hit me like a train in the middle of the park. I think I was down for about half a minute trying to get my breath back." Goodwin's assertion that it was a fair result was wide of the mark, given that a Josh Magennis header had hit a post and a late header from Aberdeen substitute Cammy Smith struck the crossbar. Osbourne, though, took greater satisfaction that his strength in the tackle had been recognised by his adversary. "Hit like a train? Is that what he said?" he asked. "He caught me in the last game of last season and got away with it, so I was hoping to get my chance this time."

Contextual targeting label:

Sport

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Aberdeen 0 St Mirren 0: No quarter given as drama centres on midfield bout

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED