After a pretty disastrous start to the season for Mark McGhee and Aberdeen there was finally some good news for the supporters to enjoy: a single goal from Lee Miller proved enough as Aberdeen beat English Premier League side Hull 1-0 at the KC Stadium this afternoon.
The game – against a full strength Hull City side – was played in honour of Aberdeen and Hull legend Dean Windass who played for both clubs during a long career that has seen the 39-year-old forward play in pretty much every division in England. Windass joined Aberdeen from Hull in December 1995 in a £750,000 deal. Manager Roy Aitken managed to lure Windass north despite offers from several other clubs for his services. His physical and commited play won him many admirers amongst the Pittodrie support, but many reckoned it also made him an easy target for card-happy referees.
Once sent off three times in the 5-0 defeat at Dundee United, Windass would be sent off 3 times in his first full season,picking up 7 yellow cards along the way. Although the opposition was weak, Windass’ finest moment in the red and white of Aberdeen came in the 3rd round of the Scottish Cup when his 4 goals in 15 minutes sank Morton 7-3. His solid peformances for the Dons (he’d score 30 goals in all competitions in his 3 years at the club) put him in line for an England call-up which sadly never came.
Windass was sold by new manager Alex Miller in July of 1998 to Oxford United for a paltry £475,000. Spells at Bradford, Middlesbro and both Sheffield teams, Wednesday and United followed, but it was back to his native Hull that Windass returned in 2007, part of the team that won promotion to the English Premier League for the first time in the Tigers’ history. It is perhaps fitting that his goal against Bristol City in the play-off final would be the goal that sent Hull City up!
The 90’s where a period of mixed fortunes for the Dons. A decade which saw the Dons record 4 second-placed finishes, as well as one League Cup ended with the former Cup Winners Cup winners slumped to a 10th – and relegation – place. Fortune kept them up that year, but for three years somewhere in the middle of that, Aberdeen had tremendous talent at the club: Joe Miller, Scott Booth, Eoin Jess, Billie Dodds and, of course, Dean Windass.
Todays win was only Aberdeen’s second of their preseason campaign. A 3-2 win over Second Division Peterhead (the Dons where 2-0 down at half-time) was the only other recorded victory for McGhee as the Dons crashed out of the Europa League 8-1 on aggregate to Czech side Sigma Olomouc. With the club being priced out of potential purchases (Reda Johnson decided to join Plymouth, while Stephen Hughes opted for life in League 1 and Norwich City, beaten 7-1 on the opening day of the season), manager Mark McGhee opted to bring in four trailists for this game, and resorted back to the more familiar 4-4-2 formation.
In a solid, workmanlike performance from the Dons, it was trialist Jerel Ifil, playing at centre back, who impressed most for Aberdeen. He looked solid throughout the 90 minutes and the Dons confidence grew as the game progressed. Aberdeen who took the lead on 38 minutes when the impressive Sone Aluko picked out Lee Miller with a left-wing cross and the striker planted a firm header past Duke into the net with the aid of a touch from Anthony Gardner.
The win should boost morale down at Pittodrie given the rocky start to the season so far. Again, Ifil showed he could be capable of filling in at the back with Diamond; we can only hope that these performances are typical of what he’s capable of. With Celtic coming to Pittodrie next Saturday, McGhee knows he needs to strengthen the defence urgently. Stuart Nelson made his debut in goal for Aberdeen, while Andrew Consodine had a good game along with his replacement after half-time, trialists Idrissa Alassane.
A good performance then from Aberdeen – let’s hope we can keep this form up when the season starts next week!
Aberdeen: Stuart Nelson, Charles Mulgrew, Richard Foster, Gary McDonald, Stuart Duff, Andrew Considine, Christopher Maguire, Mark Kerr, Lee Miller, Darren Mackie, Sone Aluko.
Related posts:
- 1860 Munich 1-0 Aberdeen
- Aberdeen slump to new European low.
- Aberdeen sign someone (at last)
- Jim Leighton leaves Aberdeen
- Preview: Falkirk v Aberdeen
Tags: Aberdeen, Dean Windass, Hull