Aberdeen 1 Hearts 1

Aberdeen and Hearts fought out a draw in a bruising encounter at Pittodrie.

Derek Young had got the Dons off to a dream start, heading them in to a third-minute lead.

But Hearts' striker Gary McSwegan levelled on the half-hour mark with a fine drive past Dons keeper Ryan Esson from eight yards.

But although both sides competed well for the rest of the match clear-cut chances were few and far between and in the end a draw was a fair result.

Aberdeen went into the game determined to make up for their disastrous UEFA Cup defeat by Bohemians in mid-week.

And within three minutes they had taken the lead.

When an Eoin Jess cross came over from the right, Philip McGuire steered his header back across goal and Young stole in to net from six yards out.

But the visitors soon recovered from their early shock and began playing some nice one-touch football but without really threatening the goal.

Aberdeen however were looking dangerous on the break and in 15 minutes Robbie Winters tried his luck from 25 yards only to see the ball sail over the bar. As the first half wore on both sides were struggling to create clear chances as defences held firm.

In the 25th minutes Young again came close with a header but this time Hearts keeper Antti Niemi was well placed to save.

But on the half-hour mark Hearts eventually got the reward that their play merited.

Robert Tomaschek worked his way in from the right but appeared to lose possession. The Dons' defence however failed to clear properly and the ball fell kindly to McSwegan six yards out.

The Scottish internationalist wasted no time in taking advantage of his good fortune and despatched the ball high into the net.

The early stages of the second half were fairly even, neither side being able to retain possession for any length of time.

Most of the action was in midfield with neither keeper being called on to make saves.

In the 53rd minute Dons' defender Mark Perry had to react well to head clear a dangerous Stevie Fulton cross.

Dons manager Ebbe Skovdahl tried to freshen things up in 69 minutes by bringing on Hicham Zerouali for the disappointing Arild Stavrum.

Within minutes the Moroccan had the Hearts' defence under pressure but his low drive from 20 yards was easily saved by Niemi.

Aberdeen looked more fired up now and in 75 minutes Winters went close when his shot from 20 yards skimmed the Hearts bar.

Moments later Jess worked his way into a good position but his low shot from the edge of the box gave Niemi no problems.

In the closing stages both sides went all out for the winner but neither side could penetrate and in the end a draw was probably a fair result.

Teams:

Aberdeen: Esson, McNaughton (Belabed 88), Perry, McGuire, Rowson, Winters, Guntveit, D. Young (Dow 18), D. Young, Jess, Stavrum (Zerouali 65).

Subs Not Used: Preece, Inglis.

Booked: McGuire.

Goals: D. Young 3.

Hearts: Niemi, Flogel, Pressley, Severin, Naysmith, Makel (Juanjo 74), Tomaschek, Cameron, Fulton (Locke 79), McSwegan (O'Neil 89), Jackson.

Subs Not Used: McKenzie, Murray.

Booked: Fulton, McSwegan, Makel.

Goals: McSwegan 30.

Att: 11,798

Ref: Hugh Dallas (Scotland).


Taken from sportinglife.com