match report and reaction
St Mirren U20 0-0 Aberdeen U20
SPFL U20 League | St Mirren Park | 6pm | Full Time
RedWeb match report
A very young Aberdeen side lined up at St Mirren Park, Paisley. Rogers was in goal with Campanile right back, Kelly left back and McKenna and Rose in central defence. The midfield three were Gibbons, McMahon and Wright with Ferries given the job of getting forward to support Shankland and Jones.
On the bench Petrie was joined by Sam Robertson and Lewis Dunbar from the Aberdeen centre, and Kalvin Orsi and Jamie Henry from the Glasgow Centre.
A number of the side did not travel as they will be involved in the friendly tomorrow against Viking FK at Pittodrie. Also a number of players are away on international duty. The fact clubs still have to play U20 league games when players are away representing youth international sides is something the SPFL need to look at.
St Mirren had experience in their line up with Jake Caprice, Stephane Bahoken and Darren McGregor all starting.
There was little action in the first 20 mins although the young Dons settled well. The first chance of the game felt to Mark Williams after a free kick was laid off to him but his shot just went over. The Dons hit back minutes later. First Ferries had a shot which was saved after a good move. Then on 24 minutes a great chance for the Dons. Campanile played a good ball in from the right. The ball fell to Shankland who thumped a shot off the bar. So unlucky.
The Dons were continuing to do well and keep their shape when not in possession. On 35 minutes McKenna had the ball in the net but it was ruled out for a foul on keeper Dilo. At the other end Bahoken went close. The Frenchman looked dangerous throughout but Rose and McKenna dealt well with him.
Neil Cooper would have been very pleased with his sides first half performance.
On 50 minutes Scott Wright, who had a very impressive game, had a fine run and he almost set up Shankland. At the other end Bahoken made a couple of good breaks into the box but the Dons defence held firm. On 55 minutes Michael Kelly suffered a bad looking injury after a poor tackle. He was carried off and replaced by Petrie. There was a delay for Kelly to be carried off, although the injury is hopefully not too serious. Two minutes after the restart Shankland again went close but his curling effort just went past the post. Just after the hour mark Shankland came off in a pre-planned move. He is likely to figure in the game tomorrow. He was replaced by school boy Lewis Dunbar. On 65 minutes Jones forced a good save from Dilo when he found space in the box.
The last quarter of the game saw the Saints dominate a bit more but the Dons defended brilliantly. On 82 mins Reilly broke through the defence but Rogers was on hand to make a very good block. Then in the final minute Rogers made an even better save to keep out Bahoken. The striker though almost won it with the last kick of the ball but he dragged his shot wide. That would have been very cruel on the young Dons who deserved a point. A really encouraging performance from such a young team.
RedWeb reaction
After the game, Neil Cooper spoke to RedWeb:
“I am delighted with the performance. I spoke before the game about how young we were. We had five 16 years olds who started the game plus one 17 year old. It is one of the youngest teams I have ever had to put out during my time as youth coach at Aberdeen.
“Yesterday I told the boys the team. I told them a numbers of years back there used to be no youth league. There was only a reserve league when young lads had to play against experienced players and were still expected to get results. So I wanted the boys to go out with the right attitude.
I thought every single one of them showed great character tonight and great determination against an experienced St Mirren side. There was a huge age gap and gap in physical strength but the boys did not let that affect their performance.
“We have lost two late goals in our last two games and I thought we were going to do the same again when the boy broke through at the end but Danny pulled off a great save. We deserved a bit of luck.
“The young boys can all be very pleased with their performance. I thought they showed great game awareness. We defended really well as a team. We kept the ball really well at times and were brave on the ball. Although we did not do enough in the final third, we still had two or three chances and Lawrence was unlucky when he hit the cross bar. He was also unlucky when he put an effort just past the post. We had one or two other half chances.
“Every player got plus marks tonight.”
We can confirm the match details for our forthcoming U20 match as follows:
MATCH: Aberdeen U20 v St Johnstone U20
COMPETITION: SPFL U20 League
DATE: Tuesday 10th September 2013
VENUE: Balmoor Stadium, Peterhead
KICK-OFF: 6pm
