IF Craig Brown is, as he suggests, responsible for the happiness of the Granite City every weekend, Aberdeen was perhaps not the place for a good time last night.
The Pittodrie side emerged from this brusque encounter against St Johnstone with their first point and first red card of the campaign. “I thought at the time that a yellow card would suffice,” Brown said of Ryan Jack’s 66th-minute lunge at Murray Davidson. “But, having seen the incident on TV, his studs were up and it was an ordering off. I complained to [referee] Steve Conroy in the tunnel but I’ve been in to apologise.”
Brown had promised Aberdeen would be tougher this term, and yesterday his side bristled with physical menace - Youl Mawene, Isaac Osbourne and Scott Vernon could each handle themselves in a brawl – but the manager’s desire to instil greater creativity remains unfulfilled on this evidence.
Richard Foster, at left-back, was their most dangerous player. Aberdeen’s new captain, recently a subject of dissent from some fans, said the right things in his programme notes – great honour and all the rest of it – and followed word with deed. One first-half free-kick had Peter Enckelman scrambling across goal and another dig from distance was punched wide by the nervy custodian, who was almost caught out by another effort from the half-way line as his discomfort in the strong wind became clear.
The goalkeeper lost a Rob Milsom cross amid a strong gust, then could only grope at air as a Fraser Fyvie delivery swirled over his head, scudded the inside of the back post, then struck defender Steven Anderson on the goalline before being slashed clear. In between times the Finnish internationalist did redeem himself with a low stop from Darren Mackie and did well to thwart Josh Magennis after his bustling run took him clear of Dave Mackay.
“It was really difficult in those conditions,” said Derek McInnes, the St Johnstone manager, who confirmed that the club had not heard back from Rangers since rejecting their “ridiculously low” bid for Murray Davidson. “But we’ve proved again we’re difficult to beat and that’s the bedrock that’s kept us in the league these past two seasons. The main thing is we’re up and running and have taken something from a difficult fixture but there were two more points there for us if we’d made the right decisions.”
St Johnstone’s 4-5-1 shape stifled their hosts but afforded little scope for ingenuity, with Cillian Sheridan isolated in attack. The interval introduction of Marcus Haber enhanced their threat, and uncertainty in the Aberdeen back four offered glimpses of goal. Dave Mackay was twice thwarted by David Gonzalez and the Colombian goalkeeper also gathered a Sheridan sclaff, while Sheridan nudged a Callum Davidson cross wide. Yet even with the numerical advantage, the Perth side appeared content with an early point, leaving the locals nursing a grievance rather than a hangover.
Visitors held by bottle of Foster’s
