St Mirren U18 vs Aberdeen U18

CAS U18 Elite League

Ralston Training Ground

Friday 29th November

Aberdeen U18s got back to winning ways on Friday afternoon when they triumphed over St Mirren by 1 goal to nil at the Ralston Training Ground in the CAS Under 18 Elite League.

Despite the Dons having large amounts of pressure in the first half, the scores were level at the break before Zak To’s early second half goal proved to be the difference as the Dons claimed all three points.

Report

Noah McDonnell returned to the side, replacing Cooper Masson in what was the only change to the team that started the Young Dons’ 4-2 defeat to Hibernian last time out.

Aberdeen began brightly in Paisley, looking to dominate possession in midfield through the likes of Fletcher Boyd and Ellis Clark. It was Clark who drew the first save from St Mirren keeper Grant Tamosevicius when he unleashed a drive from the edge of the box on five minutes. Zak To was there to slam home the rebound though the linesman’s flag was immediately raised for offside.

Moments later, Tamosevicius was called into action once more when Victor Enem rose to meet To’s cross from the left. He knocked the ball down to Clark just inside the penalty area whose shot was well stopped by the goalkeeper.

Despite the large periods of Dons’ dominance, the hosts came very close to taking the lead on 11 minutes. Enem was pickpocketed by Thomas Falconer who then found Luke Douglas, with the strikers curling effort just dropping a whisker wide of Rodrigo Vitols’ right hand post.

Douglas had another opportunity around ten minutes later when he intercepted a loose Vitols pass into midfield. With the Aberdeen keeper off his line, the striker looked for the lob from around 20 yards out, but Vitols recovered well to make a comfortable save.

The Dons continued to push for the opener and very nearly got their due reward when Ellis Clark played an excellent cross-field ball into the path of Fraser Mackie. The striker, cut inside onto his favoured left foot but will have been disappointed with his effort as he shot straight down the throat of the goalkeeper.

The half-Time whistle was sounded by the referee, and it was the Dons who looked the more likely in front of goal as the two teams headed in for the interval.

Half-Time: St Mirren U18 0-0 Aberdeen U18

The Young Dons began the second half as they had left off from the first. Immediately, on 46 minutes, Ellis Clark found himself in space in midfield. The number 7 drove through the heart of the St Mirren defence before letting fly from around 20 yards, forcing a sharp save from Tamosevicius.

Moments later, the Dons drew first blood. Timothy Akindileni did well to intercept an attempted clearance from the St Mirren defence before slipping through To. The winger kept his composure and calmly slotted the ball passed Tamosevicius with his right foot into the far corner to put the Young Dons one up.

That goal seemed to give Aberdeen extra confidence, and the Young Dons really should have been two up just minutes later. This time Joseph Teasdale got down the right flank before playing in Mackie, though once more Tamosevicius was the hero for the hosts as he pulled off an excellent save to deny the Dons’ striker.

Jack Searle and Cooper Masson were introduced in the 72nd minute, replacing Teasdale and McDonnell.

Four minutes later it was the turn of Carrick McEvoy to deny Aberdeen a second goal. From a Dons corner, the Buddies failed to clear with the ball dropping to To once more just inside the penalty area.  His volley looked goal bound all the way until McEvoy managed to get his body in the way of the shot on the St Mirren goal line.

St Mirren possessed a threat on the counter-attack all match and very nearly grabbed an equaliser in the 81st minute when, from an Aberdeen attack, Douglas played Theo McCormick clean through on goal. With just Vitols to beat the winger’s shot did just that before trickling agonisingly wide of target.

There was one final change but no more goals with Tristan Stephen replacing Fraser Mackie to see out the closing minutes as the Young Dons claimed a valuable three points on the road.

Match Info:

St Mirren: Tamosevicius, Barr, Falconer, McEvoy, Hutchison, Hunter, McCormick, Turner, Douglas, Marshall, Farquhar

Subs: Kelly, Gray, Carey, Stoddart, De Barros, Lavery, O’Brien

Aberdeen: Vitols, Enem, Ross, Carrol, Akindileni, Clark, Mackie (Stephen 89’), Boyd, Teasdale (Searle 72’), To, McDonnell (Masson 72’)

Subs not used: Green, Douglas

GOALS – To 51’