Dons gain little comfort, none for Hearts

GRAEME SMITH

4 Feb 1991

ABERDEEN manager Alex Smith was more subdued than might have been expected following his team's destruction of Hearts at Pittodrie.

Any pleasure he took from the victory was overshadowed by the knowledge that the remainder of the season would be looking a lot different if his players had only turned in that kind of performance on the previous two Saturdays.

However, their 5-0 victory boosted morale, cut Rangers' lead to five points, and gave clear notice that they have the abilility to step in if the Ibrox club slip up.

There was no joy for Joe Jordan.

In two visits to Pittodrie since taking over at Tynecastle he has seen eight goals scored, none by his men, and within six minutes of Saturday's kick-off John Robertson was taken off with a deep cut in his forehead which looks certain to rule him out of Scotland's match against the Soviet Union.

Both sides had something to prove after being unexpectedly -- and unacceptably -- knocked out of the Scottish Cup and Aberdeen got straight down to the task, with their talented youngsters playing a major role.

Stephen Wright, the stand-in right back, set up Connor for the first goal with a perfectly placed cross in only 50 seconds.

Wright again showed his tremendous pace when he raced in to flight in another perfect cross, this time to the head of Booth, for the second goal.

The game was all over in 17 minutes when Booth was in the right place to knock in a deflection from a Wright shot for his second and Aberdeen's third.

The game understandably slumped at that point, with Hearts posing no threat to the Dons.

Joe Jordan's interval chat with his men was clearly stimulating, because Hearts looked considerably more lively in the second half, but to no avail.

Aberdeen retained their rhythm and, near the finish, Paul Mason and Hans Gillhaus both scored for the first time since December 1.

Poor results in the previous weeks meant that Aberdeen's lowest crowd of the season, 9500, witnessed their best result.

They were even singing at the end.

The Hearts supporters, on the other hand, jeered their team into the dressing room.

"I think with both clubs getting a disappointment last week the first goal was going to give someone a lift, and it certainly gave Aberdeen a lift, and they punished us for our performance during the first quarter of an hour," said Jordan.

Smith has been subjected to scathing criticism since the Motherwell defeat, but he resisted the temptation to respond and instead allowed the players to do the talking.

"There was a temporary fault, but things are back up and running," he said.

"There are far too many good players and far too much pride at this club to allow the fault to continue for long."

He praised the performances of his trio of youngsters, Booth, Jess and Wright, but was also delighted that Mason and Gillhaus scored, Mason after coming on as a substitute.

"Neither had scored for a while and that puts them right back in the frame," he said.

Aberdeen's other substitute was Peter Van de Ven, who replaced Jim Bett when he went off suffering from concussion.

Taken from the Herald