CAS U18 LEAGUE Celtic 0 Aberdeen 3 Barrowfield Friday 8th September 2023
Aberdeen Under 18’s delivered a dominant performance against Celtic on Friday afternoon, where two early goals from Alfie Stewart and Cammy Wilson sent them on their way to victory on the road.
The young Dons were without Brendan Hamilton for the trip to Glasgow, the young full back was away with the Northern Ireland Under 19 squad. Alfie Bavidge was also away with the Scotland U19s. Hamilton’s unavailability forced Scott Anderson’s hand into making just the one enforced change to the side that comfortably saw off Hearts at Cormack Park last week: Timothy Akindileni came into the team.
The last time an Aberdeen Under 18’s team took on Celtic at Barrowfield the side came from 5-1 down with 30 minutes to go to within an inch of claiming a point, a missed penalty the difference in a crazy game which finished 5-4. In the sweltering 26-degree East end heat the Dons were going to need to apply the same effort levels again if they were to maintain their strong start to the campaign.
The game saw an early flashpoint when Fraser Mackie was clattered by the en rushing Aiden Rice in the Celtic goal as they both went charging for the ball. Rice was booked for his troubles; the foul had taken place just outside his penalty box and the Dons had an early chance.
Just as he did last time out, Alfie Stewart took responsibility with the free kick and the skipper managed to find the back of the net for a second week on the trot. He was aided by the flailing Rice who ended up deflecting the ball into his own net, but it counted all the same and Aberdeen had an early lead.
The free-flowing Dons continued to create chances and after passing up a similar opportunity minutes before, Cammy Wilson doubled his sides lead after finishing off an extremely well worked move involving Victor Enem who’s overlapping run found him in enough space to drive down the line and cut back for the waiting Wilson.
Findlay Marshall grew into the game as it went on and flashed his quality after the midfielder was given the freedom of the park, he was allowed to drive through both Celtic’s midfield and backline, unfortunately his shot was dragged wide.
On a different day Aberdeen could have been three or four goals to the good heading into the interval. Mackie headed wide at the back post, the combination of Enem and Boyd continued to churn out chances, but they were denied by the keeper.
HT. Celtic 0 Aberdeen 2.
The second 45 was a more subdued affair but there is no doubt that favoured the Dons who maintained a comfortable lead as the sun continued to beat down in all its intensity.
With just under 30 minutes to play Aberdeen were forced into their first change of the day – Jamie Mercer hobbled off with a knock, Christovie Kondolo his replacement.
With both teams slowly beginning to grind to a halt the game opened back up in the last ten minutes and after a selection of half chances didn’t go Aberdeen’s way, they finally got their third goal.
A direct ball up the park from Marshall was gathered by the galloping Enem and eventually rebounded back out to where Boyd was waiting and he smashed it home to wrap up the three points with the last kick of the ball. It capped off what was an extremely successful days’ work for the young Dons.
A thoroughly deserved win for the young Dons who were excellent.
Next up, the visit of Motherwell to Cormack Park on Tuesday the 12th, kick off 2pm.
Stats
Celtic: Rice, Crawford, Hale, Davidson, Ferns, Bennett, Hatton, Haddow, Cummings, McArdle, Rachwal Subs: Cannon, Meikle, Pickford, Kyle, Dargie, Keenan
Aberdeen: Vitols, Watson, Mercer (Kondolo 63), Carrol, Enem, Akindileni, Stewart, Marshall, Wilson (Masson 90), Boyd, Mackie (Teasdale 90) Subs not used: Smillie (GK), Clark
Booked: Watson 65, Mackie 72, Stewart 72, Kondolo 77 Goals: Stewart 7, Smith 18, Boyd 90
