Aberdeen made a rather lack luster start to the match allowing Hibernian a lot of possession whilst giving the ball away softly on too many occasions. The crowd inside Pittodrie (which was a rather large one, considering the circumstances) were beginning to get agitated. Langfield however put most Hearts in mouths around the ground in the opening five minutes when he took down Heffernan in the penalty area. A long ball from McGivern allowed the Hibs striker to latch on to the ball and out rushed Langfield going to ground. So did Heffernan but the referee waved play on, he did seem to go down rather easily.
The next talking point of the match came from an Aberdeen point of view as the entire stadium and all Dons players on the pitch claimed for a penalty. The build up play was good as Flood drove at the heart of the Hibernian back line and then slipped a neat ball to Pawlett behind the defence out right. Out rushed Ben Williams but Pawlett dinked the ball over him looking for Vernon. It looked as if it was going to be a tap in for the number 9, but out popped the hand of Nelson to make the clearance. It was a blatant hand ball and sending off and he deliberately denied a goalscoring opportunity. Somehow Craig Thomson saw nothing wrong and waved play on. Aberdeen had gathered themselves together after a sloppy opening twenty five minutes and were piling the pressure on Hibernian. It was the hero of last week against Kilmarnock who got the next chance. Robson whipped in another fantastic corner and up lept Reynolds at the back post heading down at goal. Williams stood tall and made the save, keeping the score level.
Hayes who had been slotting in at left back over the last couple of games did so once again against Hibernian. But it was him who put his own team under the cosh as he failed to make a clearance passing the ball straight to Heffernan. Luckily for the Irishman the Hibernian striker dragged his shot wide unable to test Langfield.
Aberdeen started the second half as the did the first. Passing the ball calmly and firmly seemed to be some sort of an issue for the usual competent men in red. It was the Hibees who fashioned the first effort of the half as Stevenson had the ball played into his path by Heffernan. He swung his foot at it and it once again did not trouble the Aberdeen keeper, as Langfield watched it sail over his crossbar. Periods of midfield battles ensued without both teams being able to create much in the way of goal scoring opportunities. Since Butcher has came into Hibs he has gotten them more organised and solid defensively and this was proving to be a difficult task for the Dons. A Robson cross almost opened the scoring as McGinn stretched for the ball at the back post and headed wide. If he had left it Hayes was directly behind him waiting for the tap in.
Then that sensational strike from Flood gave the match that spark it needed. A clearance found its way to Flood about 25 yards out. He controlled the ball with one touch, got over it then unleashed a pile driver that thundered past Williams into the side netting. Absolute magic from the midfielder. From there on in it was just the simple task of seeing the game out to take all three points away from the match.
FT: Aberdeen 1-0 Hibernian
Aberdeen
- 01 Langfield
- 02 Shaughnessy Booked
- 11 Hayes (Anderson - 89' )
- 22 Jack
- 28 Tate
- 06 Reynolds
- 15 Robson
- 08 Flood
- 09 Vernon (Zola - 83' )
- 16 Pawlett
- 10 McGinn (Magennis - 92' )
Substitutes
- 04 Anderson
- 07 Zola
- 14 Smith
- 17 Wylde
- 20 Weaver
- 21 Magennis
- 35 Murray
Hibernian
- 01 Williams
- 23 Forster Booked
- 03 McGivern
- 08 Robertson Booked (Stanton - 64' )
- 04 Hanlon
- 05 Nelson
- 11 Cairney (Harris - 80' )
- 10 Craig
- 24 Heffernan (Cummings - 73' )
- 14 Collins
- 16 Stevenson
Substitutes
- 07 Harris
- 17 Tudur Jones
- 18 Maybury
- 19 Handling
- 21 Murdoch
- 26 Stanton
- 35 Cummings
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