SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all. 

Last night was an occasion for even the hardiest of our travelling support to wonder if they had made a wise decision in making the journey to The Granite City. God,it was a truly awful night for a game of football,played as it was in dreadful conditions of constant lashing rain and howling gales. I congratulate each and every one of them for persevering, instead of curling up in front of the fire to watch it at home.

Many of us will have warm memories of past visits to Aberdeen, and also of long trips back down the road after getting our arses handed to us on a plate. Last night was neither, because the game did little to warm the cockles of our hearts. It might live in the memory for another typical Don Robertson display, but it will be the blackest of hearts which recalls his performance with any affection. As an example, he booked Valle for an innocuous coming together in midfield while allowing Neilsen and Shinnie carte blanche to hack and kick at will. About a dozen fouls by them, most unpunished, before either was given a card, and then told to go and do it again. 

I’m not sure that they were following the instructions of the manager in doing so, but the decision was clearly made somewhere along the line, and Robertson was his usual amenable self in accommodating and encouraging them. Not that they were the only offenders, just the worst by a country mile.  

The constant breakdown this caused to our rhythm was apparent in the lack of chances created throughout, and while I’ll always give credit to our players for the bravery, they lacked in guile and the necessary cutting edge. It seemed to take us forever to even get a corner, but Bernardo decided to somehow do a Charlie Tully against the wind by swinging one of our first into the far corner of the net. Naturally, the bold Don was always going to award a foul against us for this, his eagle eye catching a “block” by Maeda on their goalie. This was followed up by an even worse decision to ignore a blatant handball on the line. Dallas in VAR signalled his compliance in both decisions because he was too busy watching his heroes on another feed from Ibrox. 

The goal when it came was a huge sigh of relief, and from the least likely of sources on the night. I reckon most of us had nominated Hatate as first for the hook, but it was Bernardo, probably our most effective player, who made way for McCowan. And when Taylor came on for Valle, some of us would have wondered at the wisdom of the smaller defender being preferred against these high ball merchants. All such discussion though was soon forgotten with little more than ten minutes remaining on the clock. 

Taylor got the ball in a harmless-looking midfield area and swung the ball to the right hand edge of the box. Hatate had easily sprung the offside trap and swept the ball home with some conviction across and past the keeper. Hallelujah! 

Not that we could relax though. Aberdeen didn’t fold, nor did we build on our lead. In fact, five minutes were left on the clock when Trusty seemed to trip over his own feet and allowed Sokler to get a clear shot away. Fortunately, CCV was on hand to get a block in to send it soaring above the bar. And that was just about it for the evening. 

The players retired to the dressing rooms to get the thermals on and dry out, while the fans faced the long dark trip home. It could have been much worse though but for Reo lighting the night up with his goal. We now have a significant lead of seven points plus a game in hand against Aberdeen, and eleven over the huns. On a night like that, we can hope for silky football by all means, but digging out the three points by sheer force of will in atrocious conditions is as much a part of winning titles as any. Well done to the troops-and of course to the travelling support. 

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Above article by BMCUWP