Saturday night fever? Well, you certainly had a chance of catching something on a fairly bitter, dismal evening in Paisley.
In the end it was St Mirren who were caught cold by Lewis Ferguson’s terrific early goal and finally put to bed by Sam Cosgrove’s late penalty as Aberdeen marched into the last four of the William Hill Scottish Cup for the fifth time in seven years.
A keenly contested tussle led to St Mirren seeing more ball than Tommy Cannon but, apart from a Jamie McGrath drive which was parried by Joe Lewis in the second half, they simply didn’t have the guile or clinical edge to hurt a well-marshalled and robust Aberdeen rearguard.
The one downside for the Dons was the loss just after the resumption of Scott McKenna, who hirpled off with a hamstring injury. Scotland manager Steve Clarke will be keen on updates too with the European Championship play-off with Israel looming on the horizon.
“I don’t know how serious it is but it will depend on the results of the scan as to whether he will be fit for Scotland,” said Derek McInnes, the Aberdeen manager. “Hopefully he will be back for us before then."
Aberdeen had issued an early warning when Curtis Main nodded a header just wide and it didn’t take long for them to turn that initial menace into a one goal lead. Matty Kennedy teed-up up Ferguson and his lofted finish with the outside of the boot was something to savour.
There wasn’t much else to savour after that, mind you. There was plenty of good honest endeavour but, on a heavy, slippery surface, the conditions were hardly conducive to crisp, surging artistry.
St Mirren certainly enjoyed plenty of possession and made numerous patient and considered probings but they couldn’t fashion anything clear cut. A raking free-kick into the box right on the stroke of half-time, which the sliding Conor McCarthy almost got on the end of, was their best opportunity.
Main had a header disallowed in the second period while St Mirren huffed, puffed and chipped away manfully. They were put to the sword in injury-time though when sloppy play in their own 18-yard area led to Sean Foley hauling down Cosgrove. The Aberdeen substitute tucked away the resulting penalty with classy aplomb. “We know the importance of the cups,” said McInnes. “We’ve been in umpteen semi-finals and finals. We’re a cup team and we showed the spirit we showed at Rugby Park (in the previous round) to get the job done here.”
Jim Goodwin, the St Mirren manager, added: “We lacked a cutting edge and didn’t work their keeper. Our goalkeeper has picked the ball out of the back of the net twice and he’s had absolutely nothing to do either. We’re disappointed as we are out of the cup but I’m more frustrated as I felt we were the better team on the night and played the better football. But the two goals we lost were extremely poor.”
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