Aberdeen 3 Dunfermline 0

Saturday, 10th Feb 2007

Bitter defeat at Pittodrie as Calderwood`s men hit three past Dunfermline.

Stephen Kenny made one change from the side that disposed of Hearts last Saturday, ex Don Stephen Glass replacing another former Aberdeen man, Scott Morrison.  Jimmy Calderwood also made one change from the team that won at Paisley two weeks ago, the former Sunderland midfielder Dan Smith coming in for Dutchman Karim Touzani.

Aberdeen kicked off with the wind at their back defending the goal at the Richard Donald Stand and the ball was in Dorus e Vries`s hands very quickly.  Stephen Lovell was first to threaten on two minutes but the tracking back of Phil McGuire was enough to make him blast wide of the keeper`s right hand post.

It was Lovell who almost breached the Pars defence in 10th minute but a telling tackle from McGuire stopped the Aberdeen attack 25 yards out. Dunfermline`s first real goalmouth action came one minute later when Stephen Simmons broke into the right side of the Dons half but Jamie Langfield dropped down to save.

There was a real let off for the visitors when Mackie sent the ball wide left for Chris Clark to swing over a great ball that Lovell headed on over de Vries and fortunately Scott Wilson was on hand to clear. The clearance however was heading straight back to Lovell just six yards out but luckilly de Vries was able to put hands on the ball.

In 27th minute Simmons slipped the ball to Hammill who in turn picked out Mark Burchill on the top of the D and the Pars man hit a shot on the turn that bounced up into Langfield`s hands.

Six minutes later however disaster struck when Darren Mackie broke down the right. His lay off to Clark was driven into the six yard box but broke off Lovell in amongst the Pars defenders and when MACKIE gathered the ball on the byeline just outside the six yard box, he found the inside of the sidenetting on the far side of de Vries`s goal to put the Dons into a 33rd minute lead.

Five minutes from half time Dunfermline forced another corner on the right. Greg Ross and then Adam Hammill teased the left side defenders but when Hammill`s shuffle produced an inviting ball at the near post, Stevie Crawford was denied the chance as the Dons conceded the corner. From the corner struck low from the boot of Glass, Scott Wilson fired in a shot that was deflected into the stand but no corner.

Chris Clark broke through for another chance but not for the first time the ball went well wide of target. Not the most encouraging of first halves, one efffort on target yet Mackie and Lovell have been given plenty of chances. Dunfermline have to be happy to be just 1-0 down after 45 minutes.

Half Time: Aberdeen 1 Dunfermline 0

Just three minutes into the second half Smith and Clark worked the ball on the left to open up a chance for Scott Severin. He struck the ball from 25 yards and de Vries fisted down the fierce swerving shot and Lovell got a chance but he was offside as he hit it well away from goal despite being right in front of it.

Next minute a passback gave Burchill an opening but Langfield did enough to close out the Pars. In 54th minute Burchill beat off the challenge of Foster but the Pars tried to walk the ball into the net but failed as the final pass found no one on the right side of the box.

Ross did well to clear the danger as Mackie broke through but then Smith got around him and a diving header from McGuire kept the Dons out. Bad luck handed Aberdeen a 58th minute penalty when the ball came off Gary Mason and on to the arm of Stephen Simmons. Referee Brian Winter pointed to the spot.

Barry Nicholson stepped up to take the spot kick and de Vries came out to discuss the likely direction that Baz would opt for. de Vries kicked the ball off the spot as he made his way back earning himself a yellow card in the process. NICHOLSON placed the penalty to the keeper`s left for his seventh goal of the season.

McGuire was given a great opportunity to get something back in 63 minutes when a Hammill free kick midway into the Dons half but his header from eight yards went wide left. The Pars best move of the game then came six minutes later. Hammill played the ball wide right to O`Brien and his ball into the Dons box was nicely met by Hamilton but Langfield turned it round his post for a corner on the left. That corner found O`Brien but he shot wide left.

Bobby Ryan came on for Simmons and Iain Williamson for Burchill with quarter of an hour remaining. Williamson fought hard in 80th minute to lay the ball off for Hamilton but his pass to Glass out left did not get the return required. A free kick gave Hammill another crack at goal but the ball went wide to the right.

A breakaway in the 83rd minute gave Aberdeen another goal. Michael Hart was quick down the right and his ball into the Pars six yard box was neatly turned past de Vries by Stephen LOVELL to make it 3-0.

The ninth SPL match without a Pars goal in a miserable afternoon for the Fifers played in horrid conditions. The only cheer was provided by Dundee United`s win at Love Street. Still eight points behind St Mirren with 11 matches left.

ABERDEEN: Jamie Langfield; Michael Hart, Russell Anderson, Andrew Considine, Richard Foster, Chris Clark (Gary Dempsey 87), Scott Severin, Barry Nicholson, Daniel Smith (Lee Miller 71), Stuart Lovell (Dyron Daal 83), Darren Mackie
SUBS NOT USED: Derek Soutar, Karim Touzani, Jamie Winter, Chris Maguire
SCORERS: Mackie (33), Nicholson (58 pen.), Lovell (83)

DUNFERMLINE: Dorus de Vries; Greg Ross, Phil McGuire, Scott Wilson (c), Stephen Glass; Jim O`Brien, Stephen Simmons (Bobby Ryan 71), Gary Mason, Adam Hammill; Stevie Crawford (Jim Hamilton 61), Mark Burchill (Iain Williamson 74)
SUBS NOT USED: Souleymane Bamba, Scott Morrison, Scott Muirhead, Roddy McKenzie (GK)
YELLOW CARD: de Vries (58

REFEREE: Brian Winter
WEATHER: Cold, Sleet at times 4°C
ATTENDANCE 9379

NEXT MATCH: SPL (home) v Kilmarnock, Saturday 17th February kick off 3.00pm

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Preview Aberdeen

Wednesday, 7th Feb 2007

Out of the last twelve matches against Aberdeen, Dunfermline have won three, drawn tw

With Aberdeen out of the Scottish Cup, the Two Jimmies were at East End Park on Saturday to spy on their next opponents. They will no doubt have clocked that if they are to prevent the Fifers improving their Pittodrie record they will have to play to the bitter end. 

Bitter it normally is at the ground that never seems to benefit from the maritime effect of being near the salt water. With the Pars three Premier League wins there coming in 1997 (2-0 and 2-1) and in 2003 (2-1) every Pars fan would take warmth of three points off their old management team.  

Premier League v Aberdeen (Away)
Pld	W	D	L	F	A
25	3	4	18	17	43

 Dunfermline lost 1-0 on their last trip to Pittodrie in August and it was August 2003 (2-1) when the Pars last took three points back down the A90.

Milestones Aberdeen (Away)
Last League Victory	23/08/03	2 - 1	SPL
Last League Defeat	26/08/06	0 - 1	SPL
Best League Victory	25/02/61	6 - 3	Div One*
Worst League Defeat	13/09/58 15/09/62	4 - 0	Div One*
*Pre league reconstruction

Out of the last twelve matches against Aberdeen, Dunfermline have won three, drawn two and lost seven.

Last Twelve League Matches v Aberdeen
Date	H/A	F-A	Scorers
25/11/06	H	0-3	[0-1] Miller, [0-2] Mackie, [0-3] Mackie
26/08/06	A	0-1	[0-1] Severin
11/03/06	H	1-0	[1-0] Burchill
10/12/05	A	0-0
17/09/05	H	0-2	[0-1] Crawford, [0-2] Severin
12/02/05	H	2-1	[1-0] Mehmet, [1-1] Diamond, [2-1] Donnelly
13/11/04	A	1-2	[0-1]Tod og, [0-2] Mackie, [1-2] Donnelly
21/08/04	H	0-1	[0-1] Whelan
21/02/04	A	0-2	[0-1] McGuire, [0-2] Booth
29/11/03	H	2-2	[0-1] Deloumeaux, [0-2] Booth, [1-2] Dk Young, [2-2] Bullen
23/08/03	A	2-1	[0-1] Zdrilic, [1-1] Brewster, [2-1] Nicholson
12/04/03	A	0-1	[0-1] Sheerin

Sitting in third place, Aberdeen have won only one of their five matches in 2007, that was at St Mirren on the last Saturday in January. 

Aberdeen	Dunfermline
Current League Position
3	12
Last 6-Match Form
LDDDLW	LWLLDW
Home/Away Record
P14, W7, D2, L3	P13, W0, D4, L9
Leading Scorers
D Mackie (8)	S Crawford (4)

Following the Pars two Scottish Cup successes it has not been for a long time that Dunfermline faced a team with a better last 6 form than their opponents. It is well reported that the Pars have failed to score in their last eight league matches but should they fail at Pittodrie it will be a new club record. Surely this week all the Kenny changes will bear fruit!

Recent Form

Aberdeen Home	D Inverness CT 1-1	D Hibs 2-2	W Kilmarnock 3-1	L Rangers 1-2	W Falkirk 2-1
Dunfermline Away	L Falkirk 0-1	L Hibs 0-2	D St Mirren 0-0	L Kilmarnock 1-5	L Rangers 0-3

Last Time Out

DUNFERMLINE: Dorus de Vries; Greg Ross, Phil McGuire, Scott Wilson (c), Scott Morrison; Jim O`Brien (Owen Morrison 86), Stephen Simmons, Gary Mason, Adam Hammill; Stevie Crawford (Jim McIntyre 79), Mark Burchill (Jim Hamilton 68).
SUBS: Roddy McKenzie (GK), Souleymane Bamba
YELLOW CARD: McGuire (45)
SCORER: Wilson (93)

ABERDEEN: Jamie Langfield; Michael Hart, Russell Anderson, Andrew Considine, Richard Foster, Chris Clark, Scott Severin, Barry Nicholson, Touzani, Stuart Lovell, Darren Mackie
SUBS: Derek Soutar, Gary Dempsey, Lee Miller, Daniel Smith, Jamie Winter, Chris Maguire
YELLOW CARD: Foster
SCORER: Considine (8, 36)

Referee for this match will be Brian Winter.  This referee was in charge of the first two matches this season in which Dunfermline played Hearts.  Although he showed no cards in the second match he brandished eight in the first game of the season including sending off Andy Tod.  He is probably more well remembered by Pars fans as being the whistler who awarded Inverness Caley a penalty back in February 2006 that enabled Craig Dargo to convert and then Wyness followed up to snatch victory off Dunfermline.  Let`s hope he is more popular in his next meeting!

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