Aberdeen 2 Hibernian 1: Rae of sunshine

Sunday 30 September 2012

This was Aberdeen's first home win for almost six months, and their first of the season, as their verve and tenacity proved too much for a Hibs side who could not match the tempo set by their opponents.

Hibernian striker Leigh Griffiths shields the ball from Aberdeen's Russell Anderson at Pittodrie Stadium Photograph: SNS

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Frank Gilfeather

Gavin Rae's winner, 22 minutes from the end, provided the Dons with the points they deserved and their ninth game unbeaten, and it offered their fans a belief that, on this form, they might just make an impact this season.

It was Rae's third strike of the campaign and came less than a minute after he had suggested to fellow midfielder Stephen Hughes that he should stay back while he ventured forward.Josh Magennis's introduction for the injured Ryan Fraser early in the second half was a turning point. The Northern Ireland international would have been in the starting line-up at right back but for a calf injury and was kept on the bench in the event of an emergency and his low ball across goal was the one that was bundled over the line by Rae, the pair once club-mates at Cardiff City at a time when Magennis was the youth team goalkeeper.Craig Brown, the Dons manager, expressed his relief that a victory had at last been recorded and praised the response of his players to whom he had appealed to produce a win for the fans."We got the goals," he said, "and although we didn't play as well as we have done, I think we squeezed enough out of the team to win the match deservedly."We have gone nine games without losing which is good, but five of them were draws, which is what I have been complaining to the team about. I was saying to them at half-time to go out and imagine that you are a goal down rather than accepting the draw. I think you saw the urgency in the second half to try to get a victory for the fans."The home side could not have wished for a brighter start. Mark Reynolds' speculative ball to the edge of the Hibs area found the Easter Road side's centre-back, Paul Hanlon, who was unable to control it as Scott Vernon pressed, then dispossessed him. The striker's subsequent shot was too powerful for Ben Williams to handle and when the keeper parried it to the side it was Niall McGinn's alertness that allowed him to reach the ball first and whack it into the net.It was an early shot in the arm for Aberdeen and, aside from a slick manoeuvre three minutes later when Leigh Griffiths should have equalised from eight yards but had his effort stopped by Langfield in impressive style, it was all hands to the pumps for the visitors until the 34th minute when Eoin Doyle's blistering 25- yard strike beat the Pittodrie keeper to establish parity. He had expertly taken Hanlon's long pass on his chest, swivelled and smashed the ball into the net in stunning style. It was certainly a first half of energy and enthusiasm from the Dons, while their opponents were slick on the ball only in bursts and it was not surprising that they replaced Alan Maybury – he was given a torrid time by Ryan Fraser and was booked for an unseemly challenge on the little winger – with Ryan McGivern at the beginning of second period. Fraser's departure from the pitch because of injury after 53 minutes afforded Magennis yet another opportunity to show that he is capable of operating as a striker, despite his manager's insistence that he is now a right-back, and he quickly came very close with a near-post header from McGinn's cross to underline that belief. Indeed, his shot from the edge of the area after he'd been bundled to the ground by Hanlon was only inches off target.Magennis, who hit his side's late equaliser in the 3-3 home draw with Motherwell a week ago, did, however, produce the pass that brought about Aberdeen's lead in the 68th minute, and one for which Rae was grateful.Pat Fenlon, the Hibernian manager, did not appear despondent at the end of 90-plus fiery minutes and claimed, perhaps optimistically, that a share of the points would have been fairer."We are disappointed with the goals we conceded," he said. "There wasn't much in the game and I think a draw might have been the fairer result. They started brighter than we did in the second half and picked up a lot of the second balls. We only started to put them under pressure once they had scored. In saying that, I don't think there was a hell of a lot in the game."

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Aberdeen 2 Hibernian 1: Rae of sunshine

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