Aberdeen renew hostilities with perhaps their most traditional of local rivals when they face Dundee in the League Cup on Sunday at Dens Park.

The Dark Blues are arguably the oldest of Aberdeen rivals as ever since Aberdeen came into being in 1903, their Angus neighbours have been their traditional derby game.

Even before the Dons were founded, Dundee were seen as the side that all of the local Aberdeen clubs wanted to beat the most. When Aberdeen were admitted to the league in 1904, it was Dundee more than any other who backed the Aberdeen bid. Mind you perhaps Aberdeen wish they had not bothered as the first ever meeting following the Dons formation came in November 1905 and it was a day to forget for the Dons as they were crushed 6-0 at Dens Park in what was Aberdeen’s first season in the top division.

The local press laid into the side with some stinging criticism and it was a huge disappointment for the large travelling support at Dens who used up two special trains for the occasion.

Aberdeen fared better in the next few seasons but they had to wait until April 1910 before securing their first win over the Dark Blues in a 3-1 win at Pittodrie.

The Premier League and the changes that came with the new set up have of course changed those traditions with Dundee spending as much time outside of the top flight as they have enjoyed competing with the top sides in the country. It was not always like that as Aberdeen have a long and eventful history against their great rivals.

By tradition it was Dundee that usually turned out to honour several pre-Great war Dons players in benefit matches; Donald Colman and Willie Lennie both enjoyed their testimonial matches against the Dens Park side.

While that attraction waned in the post war years with the teams regularly battling it out in competitive action, their first ever League Cup clash came in the first ‘official’ season of the completion in 1946.47.

Aberdeen won their group section to meet Dundee in a two-legged quarter final clash. Willie Millar gave Aberdeen a precious lead after the opening game before 28,500 at Dens Park before the Dons completed the job in front of their own fans with a 3-2 win on 5th March 1947. Aberdeen went on to lose to Rangers in that first final.

The Dons record in the League Cup was disappointing in the following years as they rarely made it out of their qualifying groups with the notable exception of 1955 when Aberdeen took the trophy after a 2-1 win over St Mirren. The Dons did not meet Dundee in the competition until 1960 where they were heavily defeated in both ties as Aberdeen’s young side struggled under Tommy Pearson. That impressive Dundee side back then had former Don Bob Wishart in their side, who was keeping a certain Craig Brown out of the first team.

It was not until 1966 that Aberdeen set about putting the record straight with 4-3 and 2-0 wins over Dundee in their group section. Eddie Turnbull was putting together a new look Aberdeen side and they were gaining a reputation of being cup specialists. Dundee were nowhere near as strong as the side that had taken the title four years earlier.

That trend did not continue in 1971 as Aberdeen could only manage a 1-1 draw at home to Dundee, while going down 3-1 at Dens.

Even under Alex Ferguson in the Dons most successful period, it was Dundee who caused the shock of the 1980 season when they beat Aberdeen 1-0 at Pittodrie to go through to the semi-final of the League Cup. After a 0-0 draw at Dens Park in the opening leg, the general belief was that Aberdeen would finish the tie at Pittodrie but a Cammy Fraser goal gave the Dark Blues a shock win.

Two years later it was Gordon Strachan who shone on his return to his old stomping ground at Dens Park with four of the Dons goals in a 5-1 win. The Dons maestro put on a thrilling performance in a display of real class.

Dundee had held the Dons to a 3-3 draw in the opening tie of the group as Eric Black scored a hat-trick. However Strachan stole the show at Dens as he stamped his authority on the game. Despite a promising start from the home side Aberdeen opened the scoring after 23 minutes when Strachan scored from a John Hewitt cross. Five minutes later Aberdeen went further ahead when Eric Black made sure McGhee’s header was over the line.

Two sensational goals from Strachan in two second half minutes put Aberdeen out of sight. His third goal was text book as he spotted Bobby Geddes off his line and his 35 yard chip was as fine a goal as seen at the Dundee ground. Aberdeen went on to qualify from their group that season, a feat they repeated the following season as Dundee were beaten 2-1 at Pittodrie in the final group meeting.

Following the change in the competition in 1984, it was not until 1987 that the sides met again; on this occasion it was a semi final meeting at Tannadice. Brian Irvine and Robert Connor scored the goals that took Aberdeen through to the Hampden final under Ian Porterfield. That began a run of three successive League Cup Final appearances for Aberdeen.

Without doubt the most important League Cup clash between the sides came in the 1995 final at Hampden. Aberdeen took the cup north after a comfortable 2-0 win over Dundee who at that time were in the First Division. Billy Dodds and Duncan Shearer scored the goals in the 2-0 win.

Dundee extracted a measure of revenge a year later with a 2-1 win at Dens Park at the quarter final stage.

For the third season in a row the sides again clashed in August 1997 and Billy Dodds was again the Dons hero with two of the Dons three goals in an easy 3-0 win before a 7,457 crowd.

The last occasion the sides clashed in the League Cup at Dens was in 2009, and it was a night to forget for Dons keeper Jamie Langfield. Despite two Michael Paton goals the Dons went down 3-2 after extra time and it was an error from the Dons keeper that proved crucial as he was at fault for Dundee taking the lead in extra time.

The time the two sides met in this competition Aberdeen defeated Dundee in the League Cup at Pittodrie, but the Dons, who started brightly, were made to work hard for the win in the end. A single Darren Mackie strike early in the first half was enough to ensure Craig Brown’s side went into the draw for the third round.

The only goal came thanks to some fantastic wing play from Peter Pawlett who passed to Chris Clark and when he found Mackie, the striker hammered the ball past Douglas.

The teams that night were:

Aberdeen Teamsheet: Brown, Jack, Arnason (Mawéné 47), Considine, Foster, Clark (Chalali 59), Osbourne, Fyvie (McArdle 83), Pawlett, Magennis, Mackie. Unused Subs: /Gonzalez, Vernon

Dundee Teamsheet: Robert Douglas, Gary Irvine, Craig McKeown, Rhys Weston, Matthew Lockwood, Nicholas Riley, Stephen O’Donnell, Ross Chisholm, Ryan Conroy, Graham Bayne (Jake Hyde 70), Steven Milne. Unused Subs: John Gibson, Jamie McCluskey, Neil McGregor, Leighton Mcintosh.

Aberdeen v Dundee in the League Cup

Date	Result	Venue	Rnd	Scorers	Attendance
1.3.47	Dundee 0:1 Aberdeen	Dens Park	Q/F	Millar	28,300
5.3.47	Aberdeen 3:2 Dundee	Pittodrie	Q/F	Hamilton 2, McCall	18,500
20.8.60	Aberdeen 1:4 Dundee	Pittodrie	Sec 4	OG	18,000
3.9.60	Dundee 6:0 Aberdeen	Dens Park	Sec 4		14,500
17.8.66	Dundee 3:4 Aberdeen	Dens Park	Sec 1	Winchester 2, J Wilson 2	9,500
31.8.66	Aberdeen 2:0 Dundee	Pittodrie	Sec 1	Melrose, Smith	12,000
14.8.71	Aberdeen 1:1 Dundee	Pittodrie	Sec 2	Robb	19,053
28.8.71	Dundee 3:1 Aberdeen	Dens Park	Sec 2	Willoughby	11,875
8.10.80	Dundee 0:0 Aberdeen	Dens Park	Q/F		10,500
29.10.80	Aberdeen 0:1 Dundee	Pittodrie	Q/F		14,060
14.8.82	Aberdeen 3:3 Dundee	Pittodrie	Sec 2	Black 3	9,000
28.8.82	Dundee 1:5 Aberdeen	Dens Park	Sec 2	Strachan 4, McGhee	7,000
5.10.83	Aberdeen 0:0 Dundee	Pittodrie	Sec 3		13,200
30.11.83	Dundee 1:2 Aberdeen	Dens Park	Sec 3	McGhee, Bell	11,019
23.9.87	Aberdeen 2:0 Dundee	Tannadice	S/F	Connor, Irvine	22,034
26.11.95	Aberdeen 2:0 Dundee	Hampden	Final	Dodds, Shearer	33,096
17.9.96	Dundee 2:1 Aberdeen	Dens Park	Q/F	Dodds	8,760
19.8.97	Dundee 0:3 Aberdeen	Dens Park	3rd	Dodds 2, Newell	7,457
22.9.09	Dundee 3:2 Aberdeen	Dens Park	3rd	Paton 2	6,131
23.8.11	Aberdeen 1:0 Dundee	Pittodrie	2nd	Mackie	5,722

 

	P	W	D	L	F	A
Pittodrie	8	3	3	2	11	11
Dens Park	10	5	1	4	19	18
Neutral	2	2	0	0	4	0
Total	20	10	4	6	34	30