Men of the north have another fine awayday

ian paul

15 Apr 1991

HOWEVER the premier-division title race turns out in the end, Aberdeen have proved to themselves in recent weeks that they are made of the stuff which wins championships.

Defying the widely-held belief that their inevitable lack of support away from home, because of the travelling involved, will cost them points, the northern club have beaten Dundee United at Tannadice, Hibernian at Easter Road and Hearts at Tynecastle in their last three away games.

Squeezed in between was a home win over Celtic, further proof that Aberdeen have hit a rich seam of form in the last couple of furlongs of the race.

The victory which most pleased manager Alex Smith was the 4-1 success over Hearts on Saturday when his team not only won comfortably, but ended a six-year wait for a win at the Edinburgh ground.

"Of all the games we have had to tackle, the one really awkward one was at Tynecastle," said the manager, "because I knew the hype that would precede it."

Aberdeen's cause was aided by the sending-off, in 22 minutes, of John Robertson, who had been looking really sharp.

The Hearts striker took umbrage at being tackled roughly from behind by Brian Irvine, but any player who picks up the ball and throws it at an opponent can expect the red card treatment.

Irvine was booked for his part in the rumpus, but the punishment for Hearts was severe enough to suggest that it had a marked effect on the outcome, despite the hoary old nonsense about 10 men being difficult to beat, etc.,

Smith contended that his team had taken control of the game by then anyway, and he was probably right, but who knows what damage a player of Robertson's penalty-box talents could have caused?

He had been heavily involved in the opening goal, unhappily headed into his own net by Stewart McKimmie, who had to stretch to reach a threatening cross by the Tynecastle striker.

But before he left the proceedings, Aberdeen had equalised, Robert Connor and Dave Robertson combining well before Hans Gillhaus headed over the line.

At that point there were signs that Aberdeen were beginning to take charge in midfield, where Jim Bett was in excellent form and Brian Grant was even better.

Grant is often the unrecognised cog in the Dons engine, but nobody could ignore him this time.

He covered most of the Tynecastle pitch, defended with gusto and sent over some superb crosses in his attacking mode.

"Brian is such a consistent player and has more influence on the team than many people realise," said Smith.

"When he was injured, we lost to Motherwell in the cup and he was out when we lost at Tynecastle the last time we were here."

Hearts, already severely handicapped by Robertson's exit, had been further hampered by a head injury to keeper Nicky Walker, who needed around four minutes attention after a collision with Willem van der Ark.

Whether the keeper was fully alert when he lost the second goal, a scorching 25-yard shot from McKimmie which hit the roof of the net, only he can tell.

Playing with confidence and rhythm, Aberdeen were able to replace Gillhaus and Stephen Wright with Peter van de Ven and Scott Booth without damaging the momentum.

In fact, van de Ven had one marvellous run through the Hearts defence which ended with his shot coming off the post.

But it was the other midfield men, Grant, Bett and Connor, who dominated the action.

Connor accurately shot in a good Grant cross to put Aberdeen two goals clear and, 10 minutes from time, from a superb Bett pass, Connor flicked the ball around the keeper, collected it again and knocked it over the line.

Classy stuff but, then, on their recent form, Aberdeen are a class act.

Hearts, on the other hand, only flattered in the first quarter of an hour.

Their manager, Joe Jordan, was upset about something, presumably the sending off, but would not be drawn on the subject.

"I can't say anything at all about that.

I know the rules."

He did concede honestly that Aberdeen were the better team and deserved to win, but his disappointment was for the majority of the 16,700 in the crowd who had expected more of the home team.

There is still a glimmer of hope that they can secure a European spot, but there is more than that in the sights of Aberdeen, who are pushing Rangers all the way in what is a fascinating duel.

Taken from the Herald