Crawford rediscovering touch after bad moves

ANDREW SMITH

IT HAS become fashionable to say that the only time Stevie Crawford could be relied upon to plunder goals prodigiously was when the Aberdeen striker operated in tandem with Craig Brewster at Dunfermline. That does not make the contention any less true, however.

Crawford's scoring, and his career, have been on the slide since he ended that partnership by moving to Plymouth Argyle in the summer of 2004. At East End Park, he netted at the rate of a goal every third game in just over 200 appearances. Across the unhappy spells with the English Championship side and Dundee United that followed, 56 outings yielded a mere 11 strikes.

In that context, Crawford's three-goal haul in the 11 starts he has made in almost three months at Pittodrie suggests he might be rediscovering something of his scoring touch. Certainly, those who have watched all of the technically adroit striker's games in red insist he is the only one of Jimmy Calderwood's East End Park old boys to have performed even in fits and starts during a grim period at Pittodrie. It is one that has brought only a solitary win for Calderwood's men in a full two months.

As the CIS Cup defeat at Motherwell last week demonstrated, however, the 31-year-old now has a real tendency to perform too much of his good work away from opponents' danger areas. But in his latest posting, Crawford has been handicapped by being moved around the frontline and not knowing whether it will be Jamie Smith, Darren Mackie or Steve Lovell who join him in attack.

"It is great if a team is settled and you get an opportunity to get a run of games and maybe strike up a partnership," he says. "That has not been the case, probably because one week we've been playing well and the next we've dipped. Performances are so up and down.

"The manager is strong enough and knows where he is coming from, though. I've worked under the manager and sometimes he can change tactics depending on how he sees it. You don't get involved in that side of things. All you can do is hope to put on a better performance than Motherwell."

Crawford accepts that it is imperative Aberdeen are vastly improved from late when facing Hearts at home this afternoon. Yet, the Pittodrie players can hardly be feeling good about themselves after Calderwood launched into them for meekly accepting their cup exit at Fir Park. The striker, though, has no beef with the manager over his scathing comments.

"The best way to describe him is that what you see is what you get; he doesn't hold back," says the forward, who owes a sizeable debt to Calderwood for the 25 Scotland caps he earned. "When you see him in the dressing room it can be hard to take sometimes but at least you know where you stand. We're bitterly disappointed about Motherwell but show it in different ways - we're more gutted than anyone because it was a great chance to go further in the competition.

"I think confidence has a lot to do with it. If you go two or three games playing well, then the confidence comes. Probably what does the manager's head in is that we are not doing that - one week we are up and then next week we are down. There is a right way and a wrong way to lose a game. The good thing is the boys know it wasn't acceptable against Motherwell and you'd hope there will be a reaction against Hearts."

When Crawford joined Aberdeen on the final day of the summer transfer window, it was the fourth approach he had received from the Pittodrie club.

He had turned down a move when Roy Aitken was manager and twice passed up the chance to be reunited with Calderwood. The second of these opportunities came last Christmas, when he opted to head to Tannadice on leaving Plymouth. At that point, the striker could also have signed for the club he will line up against today.

"Yes, Hearts were one of the teams I spoke to but I didn't think it was the right move at the time," Crawford says. "I spoke to John Robertson and maybe my decision had something to do with the uncertainty surrounding Hearts. It was a gut feeling. I felt that United was right because of Ian McCall, the chairman and the squad of players they had. If you had a crystal ball you could look forward but I'm just grateful for the chance to play for Aberdeen.

"Generally it is a young squad, and the expectations are high from last season when I think the boys were terrific in just missing out on Europe. When you receive the support you do here, the expectations are always going to be high and with these slipping, the manager has let us know in no uncertain terms that the standards aren't good enough."

As a result, another season appears as if it is destined to drift by without Aberdeen making good on previous promise. A scenario all too familiar to Crawford in recent seasons.

Taken from the Scotsman