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Decemeber - For the Record

11 January 2019
Author Red Matchday Team

 

The Dons come into 2019 in a strong position after a brilliant December.

It all started with the heart-breaking narrow defeat in the League Cup final, and despite the exhausting and arguably unfair schedule at times, the team bounced back brilliantly to win six games, three of them away from home, scoring 18 goals and entering themselves in the AFC history books along the way.

18 points

Looking back and comparing this with previous seasons, for all era’s we applied three points for a win and one for a draw for consistency. This was the biggest calendar month points haul since Ian Porterfield’s team earned 16 points in 1987 also in the month of December.

It is also worth noting that every season under the current management team, the Dons have managed to get into double figures in points for December.

The best points haul for a calendar month was April 1980 when Alex Ferguson won 20 points in eight matches on the way to an unlikely league title. So this side would have got the best ever tally had we beaten either Celtic or St. Johnstone – highlighting just how well the team did, especially with the number of injuries the squad had to contend with.

The full list of 15 points or more in a calendar month is as follows:-

Apr 1980 – 20 – Alex Ferguson
May 1982 – 18 – Alex Ferguson
Dec 2018 – 18 – Derek McInnes
Aug 1946 – 16 – Dave Halliday
Apr 1984 – 16 – Alex Ferguson
Dec 1987 – 16 – Ian Porterfield
Jan 1914 – 15 – Jimmy Phillips
Sep 1928 – 15 – Paddy Travers
Sep 1932 – 15 – Paddy Travers
Oct 1932 – 15 – Paddy Travers
Jan 1957 – 15 – Davie Shaw
Oct 1971 – 15 – Jimmy Bonthrone
Mar 1983 – 15 – Alex Ferguson
Aug 2015 – 15 – Derek McInnes

Sam’s Consecutive Goals

And during the month of December Sam Cosgrove created his own little piece of history by scoring in five consecutive games.

His red card against Rangers, which was extremely harsh, prevented the striker playing against St Johnstone. So the record could have been even better. But when he came back into the side he scored against Livingston, scored the winner at St Mirren before netting twice against Dundee. A further two goals came against Hearts and one against Celtic. So seven goals in the space of only 16 days.

Niall McGinn has in the past managed to score in four consecutive games, and he did it twice and Scott Vernon also did it once.

The last player to score in five consecutive appearances was Billy Dodds, although this crossed two seasons.

This was the run-in of the “Great Escape” season of 1994-95. On 18-04-95 Dodds scored against Motherwell in a 2-1 defeat then scored two in the 2-1 win over Hearts and another in the 2-1 win against Dundee United. He didn’t play against Falkirk in the last league match or against Dunfermline in the first leg of the play-off. He returned for the second leg and scored in the 3-1 win that confirmed the club’s top tier status. Then in the first match of season 1995-96 he scored in a 3-1 League Cup win over St Mirren to make it five consecutive matches. Billy then made it six when he netted against Falkirk (3-2) in the opening league match of the season.

The last Aberdeen player to do it in the same season was Duncan Shearer in season 1992-93 when he scored in seven consecutive appearances.

Six of these were consecutive matches.

It started on 25th Oct 1992 in the League Cup Final defeat to Rangers. He followed this up in the following weeks with League goals against Airdrie, Dundee and Motherwell then two hat-tricks against Partick Thistle and Hearts on 28th November. He must have picked up an injury as he didn’t return to action until 30th January 1993 when he netted in a 4-1 win over Falkirk.

Going back as far as the 1960’s, other players to have scored in five consecutive appearances are Billy Stark and Billy Little. Eric Black and Drew Jarvie (twice) have scored in six consecutive appearances. Frank McDougall did it in eight consecutive appearances and Ken Brownlee in nine.

Top of the tree, post war – not surprisingly – is Joe Harper.

The Dons greatest goal scorer netted in five, six, seven and ten consecutive appearances during his time at the club. The ten consecutive goals came in season 1971-72 between 13 November 1971 and 3 January 1972 and they were scored in ten consecutive matches, which including a double on the Dons last ever Christmas Day match. The matches were:-

13-11-71 (H) v East Fife 5-0 – 1 goal
17-11-71 (H) v Juventus 1-1 – 1 goal
20-11-71 (A) v Motherwell 4-0 – 1 goal
27-11-71 (H) v Hearts 2-3 – 1 goal
04-12-71 (A) v Ayr United 5-1 – 2 goals
11-12-71 (H) v Clyde 4-1 – 1 goal
18-12-71 (H) v Dundee Utd 3-0 – 1 goal
25-12-71 (A) v Falkirk 3-0 – 2 goals
01-01-72 (A) v Dundee 1-1 – 1 goal
03-01-72 (H) v St Johnstone 4-2 – 1 goal

Pre-World War Two, Matt Armstrong scored in an incredible 12 consecutive matches in season 1934-35.

Starting in 24-11-34 v Hearts and ending on 26-01-35 v Falkirk. A total of 17 goals in the 12 matches. An Aberdeen legend of the 30’s, Armstrong developed a great understanding, bordering on the telepathic, with Willie Mills to form one of the most prolific front partnerships in British football at time. After joining the Dons from Port Glasgow in 1931, Matt was the top scorer at Pittodrie for four consecutive seasons before the outbreak of war virtually finished his top-flight career, although he did play a number of matches for Aberdeen. He was club record scorer before Joe Harper.

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