Derek McInnes was forced to make several changes to his starting eleven, due to the injured Robertson and suspended Shaughnessy. In came Smith in centre midfield as Ryan Jack slotted into a right back roll and also starting was Hector in central defence in place of Anderson. Considine also found himself making a start alongside Hector at centre back.
Both teams started well and were getting the ball down on the deck and spraying the ball around. It was always going to be a great footballing match. Thistle and the home side had a couple of shots at goal from distance but nothing that troubled either keeper. Zola did manage to get the Thistle keeper into action. Fox saw the ball late a made a quick diving save to send the ball behind for a corner. Scott Fox received his first ever Scotland call up earlier in the day and would have hoped to impress further by keeping a clean sheet here at Pittodrie. However his hopes were dashed on the twenty five minute mark. Aaron Taylor-Sinclair gave away a soft foul at the edge of the area and he was soon about to pay for it. Up stepped McGinn and bend it around the wall he did and the ball nestled in the near corner of the net, much to the delight of the home support. The goal could of been prevented though from a Partick point of view, as Bannigan at the end of the wall failed to jump but instead ducked, allowing a clearer effort on goal for McGinn.
Aberdeen looked to be in control of the game now and were pushing for their second just before half time. McGinn picked up the ball in the final third after a Zola knock-down and shifted the ball out wide. He waited for the run of Pawlett, which came and threaded the ball through to him just inside the left of the box. Pawlett as ever, drove to the bi-line and cut the ball back across the face of goal. In slid Zola to seize his third goal of the season (only seventeen more to go for his twenty goal target). McInnes would of gone in at half time pleased with a decent first half performance.
Alan Archibald had obviously told his players to get in Aberdeen's faces more, as out they came piling pressure on the Dons back four. They looked to be getting firmly back into the game and were beginning to get back to their passing style of play. The Thistle rejuvenation however was short lived. Neat play from Hector after a Robson freekick , saw him skip past a player and line up the shot at the edge of the box. Many in the ground expected it to go way in to the top of the Richard Donald Stand, but the fans did a double take as his strike found itself slam into the top corner of the net. Simply stunning from Hector. What a way to get his first goal for the club. An instant reply came from Kallum Higginbotham though. Directly from kick off he had an effort on goal that crashed off of Langfield's cross bar. Scare avoided for Aberdeen. The Hector goal looked to have well and truly wrapped things up, and most players and people inside Pittodrie knew exactly that. Every pass was being cheered by the Dons fans taunting their Thistle counterparts. The Aberdeen players looked comfortable on the ball making pass after pass flawlessly, it was great to watch.
Thistle were throwing bodies forward in some kind of hope that they could crack the hard nut that was the red and white defence. Aberdeen broke away and looked to kill the game off and McGinn cut the ball back for Hayes, but a last ditch tackle from Taylor-Sinclair denied the Irishman from finding the net. Aberdeen were not to be denied moments later though in the 86th minute. A one two between Hector and Flood saw the defender skipping down the right wing. A neat passing move to say the least. Even better was Michael Hector's ball in to McGinn, a delightful in-swinging cross that found McGinn, who volleyed high into the net to get his first goal from open play this season. That puts him on five goals for the campaign and his second goal on the night was the icing on the cake to a superb result for Aberdeen. The 10,000 plus fans who were there tonight could go home extremely happy with their teams display. Is the sleeping giant of Scottish football rising again? well we will leave that for you to decide!
FT: Aberdeen 4-0 Partick Thistle
Aberdeen
- 01 Langfield
- 22 Jack
- 05 Considine
- 08 Flood
- 27 Hector
- 06 Reynolds
- 16 Pawlett Booked (Anderson - 78' )
- 14 Smith (Robson - 56' )
- 10 McGinn
- 07 Zola (Vernon - 64' )
- 11 Hayes
Substitutes
- 04 Anderson
- 09 Vernon
- 15 Robson
- 17 Wylde
- 18 Low
- 20 Weaver
- 25 Shankland
Partick Thistle
- 01 Fox
- 02 O'Donnell
- 03 Taylor-Sinclair
- 04 Welsh
- 05 Muirhead
- 13 Gabriel Booked
- 08 Bannigan
- 19 Osbourne
- 09 Doolan (Elliott - 69' )
- 07 Craigen (Forbes - 69' )
- 23 Higginbotham Booked (Baird - 78' Booked )
Substitutes
- 10 Forbes
- 12 Gallacher
- 14 Elliott
- 16 McMillan
- 17 Baird
- 20 Kerr
- 21 Mukendi
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